30 lbs to New Years!!

[NanaOfBKM]

I guess Robin has us figured out - just put it in writing is funny. Going to the john, then to the scales to see how much we lost. Guess I'm guilty of that in the mornings before I post my weight for the day. LOL - I think we must all be going crazy!!!

 

My weight was back up a pound this morning, but was still below the 160. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

 

Robin - hope you bought some pretty clothes! Do you still want to come by and look at what I have?

 

I think my husband is beginning to think about the cruise. I keep asking him what he clothes he is going to need. Today he emailed me from work to ask about renting a TUX but told him instead of that (now that Carnival has relaxed their dress code) that we could buy him a nice dark suit that he could get some use out of. He emailed a friend who had been on a cruise who told him he wore a nice sports coat. So we will see what he ends up doing. I also saw (he prints off these emails and bring them home for me to read) that his friend said he took mini bottles onboard and got busted by security. He told DH to fill up water waters with clear liquor instead. He came home and started watching SportsCenter so we haven't discussed his emails yet. He doesn't know I have all of this "smuggling" figured out. I've been on Cruise Critic since September - and you do learn all the tricks. I have my Rum Runners ready to go! LOL I think I'm going to buy some drink coupons as a back up in case we get busted.

 

Marlene

[angelkisses]

Hi Marlene, ask John what cruiseline his friend was on that got busted and whether or not the mini-bottles were in carry-on luggage or check-in baggage. I've heard that NCL has SMUGGLING POLICE and you get busted much more frequently than with Carnival. My bet is that he tried carrying them on rather than putting them in his check in bags. Tell John you are going to buy a 12 pack of coke and unseal the ends ... replace the coke with beer ... and then reseal the ends and see what he thinks.

 

I think I may have all the clothes I need for the cruise. I'm trying hard to pack lite this time. What size does John wear? David has that nice TUX he found at GW Boutique but John is probably a little bigger than David. John will be just fine in a dark suit or sports coat. In fact, usually a tux is the exception rather than the norm now days. If anyone is in the market however for a tux you can buy one at JCPenney for about the same price as a rental. One of the men who went with us last year and who will be on our October Cruise (Connie's Boyfriend) purchased at tux at JCPenney.

 

Well, I finally went back to weight loss doctor today. I postponed my appointment from earlier this week. Left their feeling bitter-sweet. I actually had lost 7 lbs from where I was this time last month. Considering I had gained about 5 lbs during Christmas I thought an overall 7lb loss was not bad. Once again, they say I am not loosing as fast as I should be. I could loose that much with the diet I'm on but I have increased my injections to 3 a week with no significant results. FINALLY, I think we may have figured out the problem. I had lipo several years ago but never told the weight loss doctor just because of embarrassment. I had it done on the spur of a moment of deep depression when I had it in my head that my bad marriage (at the time) would be better if I just lost the weight and lost it quicky. It didn't work. Marriage went from bad to worse and you couldn't even tell I had the surgery except for a massive scar from complications in healing. I no longer have any feelings around the belly button area (actually its a man made belly button now) and the numbness extends almost all the way across my stomach. This is where I have been giving myself injections. The nutritionish says that the scar tissue could be preventing the injections from absorbing the way they are suppose to. Starting tomorrow I will be changing locations of my injections to my side. They also did blood work today and I will find out tomorrow if there's anything out of the ordinary.

 

Marlene, I bought some of those K crackers you were talking about. I have to count them out and put them in a zip lock bag otherwise I would certainly eat way too many. Thats the nice of way of increasing fiber.

[NanaOfBKM]

Robin - John is probably bigger than David. I'm trying to talk him into buy a black suit to wear. Black because all my formal clothes are black or have black in them. I checked with Stacey and Benji wears a black suit. To everyone else - what did your husband wear and what cruiseline were you on?

 

Robin - I've told John to email Danny to see how he got busted and will let you know.

Good luck on your injections! Bet they weren't hurting too much where you were giving them. LOL

[nana&poppy2526]

Marlene, my husband really dislikes dressing up, so for our "formal" night (we skipped the 2nd one because the food wasn't that good and we were sorta burnt out on it) he wore a dress shirt and nice tie. No jacket. We were on RCI. I'll be honest....you saw EVERYTHING in the dining room, including NASCAR tee-shirts. Not so obvious on formal night, but otherwise dining was a very casual affair (hubby wore shorts and a nice shirt) which was a real relief (I dreaded arguing with him every night on what he should wear). I, on the other hand, enjoy having a reason to dress up, but I still wore a knee-length nice black dress and I thought the two of us were a very handsome couple! :)

 

Robin, 7 pounds over the Christmas holiday? Personally, I think that is exceptional. I'm still brooding over my 3.4 pound loss in six weeks, but when I think about all I did in that six weeks, and all I ate and drank, I guess it's not too bad.

 

Re: drinks. I didn't drink but a couple of drinks on our cruise that had alcohol in them, but I did drink a bunch of the virgin variety of something called a "lava float". It was the strawberry syrup used for strawberry daquiris poured in the bottom of a nice glass with frozen pina colada poured on top of it, so you had red mixing up with white. It was beautiful, and VERY good. I think those (and the good butter on not-so-good bread) were the reason for my six pound weight gain. We wanted to sneak some liquor onboard, but we chickened out and left it at home.

 

I'll check back in at the end of the day to see if y'all mention lunch tomorrow again. After 4:00 today, I don't know that I'll be checking back in (and I'm terrible at checking e-mail at home, too), so if you want to meet for lunch tomorrow, I hope you can let me know before 4:00 today.

 

Have a GREAT WEEKend.

 

B

[nana&poppy2526]

Sorry, I forgot (again)....

 

Everyone out there, please root for the PANTHERS tomorrow night!!! Football is not my thing, but even I am excited about tomorrow night's game!!! It would be WONDERFUL to see them in the Super Bowl again.

 

Marlene, tell John that he can give up being a Cowboys fan for one night and be a Panthers fan for a change. He does, after all, live in North Carolina, not Texas!!! :)

[angelkisses]

We had a drink something like what you described on our Carnival cruise. It was 1/2 Pina Colada and 1/2 daiguiri swirled together. It was called a Miami Vice. My favorite drink however was a mango drink called Kiss on the Lips. I went up to one bar tender and asked for a Kiss on the Lips and that's exactly what he gave me too :eek::eek::eek: He was kinda cute.

 

Some of our group was talking last night on what we would do if the Panthers are still in next week. It could be they play on our formal night. We were thinking of dressing up in Formal wear and then going to the Lido Deck to watch the game on the movie screen under the stars while chomping down on pizza and washing it away with beer.

 

Marlene with our last group we had a couple men who wore black suits and it looked great. You really can't go wrong with that choice and honestly you will see many more suits on the men than you will a tux.

 

Okay everybody when rethinking some of my goals I have finally decided to attempt to do something I have always wanted to do. RUN. I've always blamed "the girls" for not being able to do it ... I heard enough of the black eye jokes to last a lifetime but not anymore. Yep, I'm going to get me a super wide ace bandage and strap the girls down and go for it. My goal is couch potato to 5K in 9 weeks. I found the plan at:

 

http://www.coolrunning.com

 

I figure like the weight loss if I write about it on these boards I will stay more focused on the program.

[NanaOfBKM]

Sorry, I forgot (again)....

 

Everyone out there, please root for the PANTHERS tomorrow night!!! Football is not my thing, but even I am excited about tomorrow night's game!!! It would be WONDERFUL to see them in the Super Bowl again.

 

Marlene, tell John that he can give up being a Cowboys fan for one night and be a Panthers fan for a change. He does, after all, live in North Carolina, not Texas!!! :)

 

You are talking about a guy who during our Thanksgiving blessing yelled out for the Cowboys!! I will, however, be pulling for the Panthers. Looks like the weather will suck though.

 

I'm feeling a lot better but when the rain comes in tomorrow, I'm going to stay inside. I don't think the dampness will help my bronchitis. So I'm going to get up early, get groceries bought, etc. and then get back in the house and rest. GO PANTHERS!!!

[NanaOfBKM]

We had a drink something like what you described on our Carnival cruise. It was 1/2 Pina Colada and 1/2 daiguiri swirled together. It was called a Miami Vice. My favorite drink however was a mango drink called Kiss on the Lips. I went up to one bar tender and asked for a Kiss on the Lips and that's exactly what he gave me too :eek::eek::eek: He was kinda cute.

 

Some of our group was talking last night on what we would do if the Panthers are still in next week. It could be they play on our formal night. We were thinking of dressing up in Formal wear and then going to the Lido Deck to watch the game on the movie screen under the stars while chomping down on pizza and washing it away with beer.

 

Marlene with our last group we had a couple men who wore black suits and it looked great. You really can't go wrong with that choice and honestly you will see many more suits on the men than you will a tux.

 

Okay everybody when rethinking some of my goals I have finally decided to attempt to do something I have always wanted to do. RUN. I've always blamed "the girls" for not being able to do it ... I heard enough of the black eye jokes to last a lifetime but not anymore. Yep, I'm going to get me a super wide ace bandage and strap the girls down and go for it. My goal is couch potato to 5K in 9 weeks. I found the plan at:

 

http://www.coolrunning.com

 

I figure like the weight loss if I write about it on these boards I will stay more focused on the program.

 

Good luck, Robin, on your running goals. 9 weeks = 5K? I look forward to hearing about your progress.

 

I'm pushing for the black suit as I will be wearing black satin big leg type pants with sequin tops. If not a black suit, a black sports jacket.

 

Robin - John asked Danny about them getting "busted" by security for mini bottles. It WAS Carnival! He said they packed them in his and his wife's carry on bag and also in both of their checked luggage. Everything got caught except his wife's checked luggage. He said he thought it was because of the metal caps. But in 3 pieces of luggage???? YIKES! My DH says it's a vacation and worrying about all this "smuggling" and fear of being caught, isn't what he considers a vacation. OK - I'm still going to try my rum runners. If I get caught it will be "I Told You So" for the entire cruise!

[angelkisses]

Good luck, Robin, on your running goals. 9 weeks = 5K? I look forward to hearing about your progress.

 

I'm pushing for the black suit as I will be wearing black satin big leg type pants with sequin tops. If not a black suit, a black sports jacket.

 

Robin - John asked Danny about them getting "busted" by security for mini bottles. It WAS Carnival! He said they packed them in his and his wife's carry on bag and also in both of their checked luggage. Everything got caught except his wife's checked luggage. He said he thought it was because of the metal caps. But in 3 pieces of luggage???? YIKES! My DH says it's a vacation and worrying about all this "smuggling" and fear of being caught, isn't what he considers a vacation. OK - I'm still going to try my rum runners. If I get caught it will be "I Told You So" for the entire cruise!

 

Do you think that after he got caught with the carry-on bags having alcohol in them that red flagged his items that he checked in? I still wouldn't be worried using the rum runners or even mini-bottles in the checked in luggage just keep those carry-on pieces clear of any booze except your bottle of wine. This has to be just an isolated incidence or they would be going crazy on the Carnival boards talking about it. Went to the GW Boutique last night. After buying 5 pairs of jeans last week for only $15 (some were from another second hand store) and then turning around and retailing them on eBay for a total of $163 I got the fever again. I noticed they had lots of men's suits. Do you think you could drag John into a GW.

[NanaOfBKM]

I went to the GW Boutique last week and found a beautiful Sunday dress with a small 1 inch seam that needs to be stitched. I got a great denim skirt and a pair of jeans. Went by there today and found a shorter denim skirt and a jean jacket (princess line seams that made me look small!). I hadn't thought about Ebaying - you really need to know name brand jeans, which I'm not very good out.

 

John has no problem with going to th GW but I think he wants to go to the SK Menswear store. The one in Gastonia is closing and has 75% off what's left. I don't know that anything is left worth anything. We may have to go to Pineville to their other store.

 

Got new camera today - it is so much smaller than the one I have now. I hope with the 10 mp that I can do a lot of cropping since it doesn't have as much zoom as the other one. John should be able to use this one and actually get me in some pictures during the cruise. Now have to figure out how to tell DH I bought it. LOL

 

I also got another sequin top on Ebay and it fits great. Black and blue sequins - It should look good with my big leg black satin pants. I also went to Kohls today to get some jewelry for formal night.

 

Hope all of you are having a great weekend. I'm getting over my bronchitis so hopefully my weight will drop back down. Seems when I take RX my weight goes up. I actually felt I had fluid retention a couple days. I'm up 1/2 lb from Wednesday so hopefully that's going to come off and a little more by Wednesday. Oh, yeah - I had a glass of wine last night. Not good for the diet.............

 

GO PANTHERS!!!!!!

[JuJuBee26]

Hello everybody!!!

Got home from the cruise yesterday. It was great!!

I did well on not over eating too ;) I couldn't even eat everything at dinner and there were times I didn't eat because I slept in so that part I'm not worried about.

Got plenty of exercise with all the walking in Freeport and Nassau plus just walking around the ship. We had a great time :)

Now it's time to get back to work! Summer's coming so gotta look fab in those bikinis!!

[NanaOfBKM]

Welcome back, Jen. I was thinking about you today - thinking it was about time for you to get home. So glad you had a great time. Did you consciously not eat or had your stomach shrunk enough that you couldn't eat as much? My DH and I will be indulging at the bar so I know I'm going to pack on some weight when I go. It's a given. Good for you that you didn't have that problem.

 

Bikini? Only the youngest of our group (and smallest) is thinking of wearing a bikini. LOL However I think that's great after having all those little babies. Go for it!!

 

The fact that you came back on board so quickly is great! You get an A+ for that.

Hope you are back on track with the weekly weigh-ins and daily chats.

 

Marlene

[NanaOfBKM]

Hello everybody!!!

Got home from the cruise yesterday. It was great!!

I did well on not over eating too ;) I couldn't even eat everything at dinner and there were times I didn't eat because I slept in so that part I'm not worried about.

Got plenty of exercise with all the walking in Freeport and Nassau plus just walking around the ship. We had a great time :)

Now it's time to get back to work! Summer's coming so gotta look fab in those bikinis!!

 

Jen - what did you do in Nassau? We will be stopping there in February. Did you go to any other ports?

[olepamb]

Guess it is about time for me to post. I have had a terrible two days as far as the diet goes. I have been so busy and not able to prepare the food I need for the diet that I have really blown it. I promise to get back in the swing of it.

 

Jen - Welcome back, glad you had a great time. You need to tell us what all you did.

 

I need to start trying to find me some clothes to take on our cruise. Plan on going to GW and checking that out.

 

Have a wonderful day to each of you.

 

Pam

[JuJuBee26]

Thanks for the warm welcome back, gals :) I really missed talking to you guys. We got online a few times while on board and note to self: We will NOT be taking the laptop next year. We ended up spending about $75 just on internet!! :eek: It's $24 for an hour of access and .75/minute if you pay as you go.. yea, ridiculous.

 

In Freeport, which was our first stop, we just got off the ship and browsed through the different shops in the Straw Market. Our ship was parked right next to it-basically just had to go off the gangway and there ya are. It was nice.. Bought daddy in law a true, honest-to-God Bahaman shirt complete with palm trees on it.. He loves it! I bought an ashtray and a totebag that says "Bahama Beach Club" on it which came in handy since I didn't take a purse at all. Rob got a really neat leather bracelet.

 

In Nassau, we got off with 2 of our table mates and walked around. Of course, the first place I went was McDonalds so I could have a cheeseburger LOL We ended up on the beach for awhile before DH and I had to go back to the ship so I could change clothes... was having (how do I say this delicately) "Female issues".. NOT fun. We met up with them an hr or so later and went to this restaurant called Conch Fritters.. AWESOME!! You guys have to try them. We had an appetizer of fried conch.. SO good!

 

We didn't do any excursions, had to watch finances but I really think we had more fun walking around and exploring on our own. DON'T WEAR FLIP FLOPS unless you've had them for awhile and they're already broke in. I bought new ones the night before we left and omg, I have sores on the top of my feet. So make sure you have good walking shoes.

 

Didn't get to do Kennedy Space Center either but we're going back next year, same ship and all so we can see how it looks after refurb this year. DH did very well his first time flying and sailing and now he's hooked :P

 

If you want to go to Atlantis, we learned from a gal and her mom that we met during sail away that you can take a cab (not sure how much that cost, she didn't say) over there and it's $35/person to go in and look around the big aquarium and The Digs and I think she said it's another $5/person if you want to go down the huge water slide.

 

There's plenty to look at while walking around and stores EVERYWHERE!! Just gotta do a little research ;)

[JuJuBee26]

Welcome back, Jen. I was thinking about you today - thinking it was about time for you to get home. So glad you had a great time. Did you consciously not eat or had your stomach shrunk enough that you couldn't eat as much? My DH and I will be indulging at the bar so I know I'm going to pack on some weight when I go. It's a given. Good for you that you didn't have that problem.

 

Bikini? Only the youngest of our group (and smallest) is thinking of wearing a bikini. LOL However I think that's great after having all those little babies. Go for it!!

 

The fact that you came back on board so quickly is great! You get an A+ for that.

Hope you are back on track with the weekly weigh-ins and daily chats.

 

Marlene

 

Thank you thank you :) I didn't eat because either I just wasn't hungry or we'd slept in and missed breakfast LOL My stomach has shrunk, I couldn't even finish all of my main course at dinner!! I think I had dessert 2ce the whole time on board. Of course, it could have been the shrimp cocktail appetizers that did me in but there's only 4 pieces of shrimp so I guess it's GOT to be my stomach has shrunk which I'm not complaining.

I'm sure I gained back a few pounds from alcohol but nothing a little Zumba won't take care of ;) Give me til Wed. and I'll post for weigh in. I was 129 before we left so we'll see just how much I packed on LOL

[NanaOfBKM]

Thanks, Jen. Sorry you were having an "issue" on the cruise. That really sucks!

 

We have 4 ports on our cruise next month. In Cozumel - we are going to a beach club (all inclusive food & drinks) . We may ride ATV's there, not sure yet. We've been Cozumel a lot of times so wanted to do something different. That day is actually our anniversary. In Belize we are going to do Captain Your Own Boat with Pam and her DH. Costa Maya - going to just go to the nearby village, walk around, etc. There are suppose to have cheap massages so I'm really hoping for that. LOL Nassau - we're going to do a Yellow Party Boat excursion and then just come back, walk around and maybe to go Senor Frogs. Jen , how far was the Conch restaurant from the ship? Sounds nice that the ship will be so close that you could actually get back on a while and go out again. When we go at Halloween with Robin and a group of people, we only have two ports. That will be cheaper than have 4 ports to visit. I've been savings my dollars and change!

[JuJuBee26]

Hey, a little off subject but do you guys know how to change the signature? I tried to put a new countdown clock and picture in mine but it didn't save it :(

[NanaOfBKM]

Jen - I think when I set mine up, I went to Countdown Clock at the top and added the countdown clocks to my signature. Looks like you may have removed yours as I can't see it on your post.

 

Pam - we all have days like that - eating on the run. You will find some things that you can eat out that aren't too bad. Try McDonald's grilled chicken wraps (just one thing I can think of). Some of the Subway sandwiches aren't bad. I normally try to look at websites before I go somewhere to see what my "best bet" will be. Also you may want to keep some low calorie frozen meals and Kellogg Protein meal replacement bars. These aren't on South Beach but they are better than going overboard.

 

GW Boutique is great as you start losing weight and need new clothes. You don't want to spend a lot of money if you plan to lose more weight.

 

Marlene

[JuJuBee26]

Thanks, Jen. Sorry you were having an "issue" on the cruise. That really sucks!

 

We have 4 ports on our cruise next month. In Cozumel - we are going to a beach club (all inclusive food & drinks) . We may ride ATV's there, not sure yet. We've been Cozumel a lot of times so wanted to do something different. That day is actually our anniversary. In Belize we are going to do Captain Your Own Boat with Pam and her DH. Costa Maya - going to just go to the nearby village, walk around, etc. There are suppose to have cheap massages so I'm really hoping for that. LOL Nassau - we're going to do a Yellow Party Boat excursion and then just come back, walk around and maybe to go Senor Frogs. Jen , how far was the Conch restaurant from the ship? Sounds nice that the ship will be so close that you could actually get back on a while and go out again. When we go at Halloween with Robin and a group of people, we only have two ports. That will be cheaper than have 4 ports to visit. I've been savings my dollars and change!

 

Yea, it was crap LOL

The pier is just right there. You'll get off and go through this building in order to get into town. You'll have to come back through the same building in order to get to the pier also-this is where you'll show your ID and Sea Pass.

The Conch restaurant, you'll get off the boat, thru the building and go out the back into Nassau. Go to the first street, hang a right, round the first corner to the left, go up to the next street and hang another right. It will be on the other side of the street, in the middle. There's a huge sign that says Conch Fritters so you can't miss it.

[NanaOfBKM]

Thanks, Jen. My husband loves trying new things. Since I'm doing all the planning - that would be a nice surprise for lunch, after we get off the party boat. Then we can go back to Senor Frogs before boarding. Sounds like you guys were walking so we wouldn't have to get a taxi - right?

[JuJuBee26]

NP :) We didn't make it to Senor Frogs. My new flip flops were killing my feet along with other things lol But that place stays hopping until like, 4 am. They have a special party for the Sensation passengers. The other 2 couples from our dinner crew went as well as a gal we'd met during Sail Away. They said it was a blast so I think next year, it's on the agenda.

 

If you can handle the walking, save the taxi money for shopping! It's really not that bad, you just have to watch out for the drivers. Lots of honking lol Remember that they drive on the opposite side of the road so that threw Rob for a loop when trying to cross a time or two ehehe.

 

You'll love it there! If you go to my homepage (which is my Myspace) there's a whole album from the trip ;)

[NanaOfBKM]

I've had a rough week as far as weight loss. They say that when your body gets to a weight you've been before, it tends to stop at that weight for a while. I think that's what happened. I remember being around 158 - 160 before and could not get it any lower. So I'll keep chugging along - at least I won't be gaining weigh. Surely the scales will move soon.

 

I've spent a productive afternoon. I've gone through my closet to find clothes that fit and clothes that are too big. Pulled the big clothes out and will take to Good Will. It's hard to do that because in the past I've always gained my weight back and was lucky to have these clothes to fall back on. With the help of this group, I hope never to go back down that road again! Felt good to try on jeans and skirts that were huge on me. I can't believe I was that big.

 

Now I have to get over my allergies. I get sick anytime I clean out a closet, almost asthmatic. So I'm off to take a good shower and get this "dust" off of me.

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend -

 

Marlene

[NanaOfBKM]

Jen - did mama never tell you that you are suppose to wear good tennis shoes and socks when you are doing a lot of walking?

 

Marlene

[angelkisses]

Marlene, put the Big Girl clothes on eBay and reward yourself for all your hard work!!!!