Thanks, all! :) Congrats on the 7 lbs! That's 28 sticks of butter! :D Don't think of the weekend as blowing it, holidays and special occasions are always going to come up and we're going to indulge sometimes. THE most important thing is what you do afterward. Whether you shrug and go "Oh well, I blew it anyway, may as well just forget the whole thing" or if you go "Okay, I enjoyed the holiday, now back to regular life" and get right back on track. You can do it. :) Yep, it is! Congrats on the first 10 lbs, that's a great start! And going down a size and being able to fit into something you couldn't before is always a great feeling! 28 lbs is awesome! You're almost 3/4 of the way there! Can't wait to hear about when you hit your goal weight!! Me, too! I'm so done with winter! It's warmed up here enough to walk outside most of the time but I want it warmer and I want more choices in fresh summer fruits and stuff, I'm ready! :D Haha I have that one pair of GAP jeans set aside, too, buttonflies, that I haven't worn in years, just waiting to see if I can put them on again one day.... Congrats on the 6 lbs! Splurging is okay as long as it is a conscious decision, I think. Own it and CHOOSE to do it, and then don't feel guilty about it later, just recognize that it might show up on the scale for a couple of days but that if you get right back on track and do the right things, it should come right back off. And you just keep going. :) Congrats on the 10 lbs! Yes the scale fluctuates for me some anyway but would even more if I didn't constantly work at it. Walking definitely helps me as well. Congrats on the smaller dress size, that's a great feeling!! I'll repost the Weight Loss Conversion Chart in the post below, it's a lot of fun lol.

So far, I walked 3 miles at the track, had a homemade smoothie, took a hot shower, played Hanging With Friends, posted here, and hung out with the kids. Now I'm going to Lowe's to buy grass seed for the bare patches in my backyard (too much kid traffic in too small a space) and to buy a few groceries at the supermarket. :D When we get back, we'll be turning up the bare patches and putting down the grass seed, relaxing at home after that, grilling steak for dinner, and trying to clear out some space in our DVR. Fun, I know!

Haha go log them!! I'm going to go walk soon myself. Just waiting for it to warm up a wee bit more! I've cut out grains entirely, pretty much. If it's got flour in it, I don't eat it. So no bread, no pasta, no cakes, cookies, etc. I don't eat white potatoes, either. No rice. I don't eat sugary stuff. I don't buy much processed light/fat free stuff, I stick to whole/natural foods as much as possible. I do still eat fats. I eat butter, mayo, peanut butter, olive oil, coconut oil. I eat whatever meat/poultry/seafood etc that I want, fruits, veggies, squash, occasional sweet potatoes, nuts, cheese/eggs/dairy, stuff like that, paying attention to when I'm 'satisfied'/portion sizes. I drink mostly water and sometimes milk. If I want something sweet it's usually fruit, or a homemade smoothie, maybe a sugar free jello. Occasionally some dark chocolate. I walk for exercise. I don't really usually miss that stuff, either, by the way. You get used to not having it. I don't feel hungry all the time, I feel good, and I'm losing weight a lot faster/easier than I ever did before. In the past I've always done Weight Watchers type diets and tried to eat more low-fat but this seems so much easier because I'm not weighing my food, measuring my food, counting "points," calories or anything else, so I don't feel like I'm obsessing over every bite that goes into my mouth... I just avoid the 'bad carbs' that I was basically addicted to and which my body couldn't handle and which caused me to gain excessive amounts of weight. And I feel less hungry than I did when I was trying to eat more low fat. I'm not saying I'll never ever eat another piece of bread or bite of pasta as long as I live. I'll probably eat that stuff once in a while, maybe on special occasions or for rare indulgences, but for the most part I choose to avoid them because I feel better, look better, lose better etc when I do.

LOL I love that! Even if you think you've "only" lost 5 or 10 or whatever pounds...try carrying it around for a while! Or looking at what that looks like in the form of hamburger meat or a sack of sugar or something at the store...it's a lot of weight! And it would definitely get tiring carrying that around after a while! It all adds up! Congrats on your first 10 lbs! :D Thank you! I of all people know how hard it is to get motivated (until eventually you just do; if only I hadn't waited so long heh). But you can do it! :grouphug:

That's a great start, just about 20 lbs down! Congrats! :) It is great to see so many people making these positive/healthy changes!

Maintaining is definitely better than gaining! When you're ready you'll start losing again! (Have I mentioned lately there's a great weight loss challenge social group for help with that)? hehe. Thanks for the encouragement! :) I am feeling really good! Physically, no more back aches (sciatica), which is really nice. A bit more energy than I used to have, the stairs are easier, I can stand longer without feeling like I need to sit down or that my ankles bother me from supporting all that weight, etc! Mentally/emotionally, I feel a lot more confident and better about myself in general. So, it's a good feeling! :)

So you've lost over 30 lbs so far, congrats! You're doing great, too!! :) A big vacation is definitely a good incentive! Glad you have an incentive, and a plan, and over 30 lbs of success so far! I've put up a stray progress picture here and there, but I'll definitely do some more update pictures soon. Maybe when I hit that 60 lbs lost milestone. :)

:grouphug:

Congrats on the 6 1/2 lbs! That's like 26 sticks of butter, gone! :D It's always frustrating how slowly weight comes off considering how easy it is to put on! Then again it's good that you're getting it back under control after only putting on 20 lbs. I always let it get SO ridiculously out of control and gained such a horrible amount of weight. I really don't know why! But I think this time I have really changed my whole lifestyle and don't intend to ever do that again! Wow, that's awesome! Congrats on no longer being "overweight!" :) I think the lower you get the more it slows down but that is quite an achievement so even slow progress, as long as it's in the right direction, would be okay I'd think! :D Thanks for the supportive comments!

Well, thanks for the recommendation! I just bought one from there with tummy panel for this summer! :D With a matching halter top. And they've currently got a promo going on for 25% off plus free shipping on orders of $50.00 or more. I had to guess at the size I think I'll be due to my ongoing weight loss but hopefully it'll work out lol.

Alas, I still have not lost that elephant's penis. ;) But as of this morning, I DID lose a 5000 BTU air conditioner! That required losing 55 lbs, and as of this morning, I'm down 56! I've gone from 247.6 lbs to 191.6 lbs. I only need to lose two tenths of a pound more to be "overweight" instead of "obese" as per BMI according to fitday.com! Yes, I'm actually excited about being overweight! I'm more than ready to get out of these 190's and see the 180's already! (180-something sounds so much farther away from 200 than 190-something does lol). Only 1.8 lbs away from achieving that, but it's going to take 4 more lbs to make it an even 60 lbs and lose that elephant's penis haha. Incidentally, I spent the last two days cleaning out my closet and dresser. There were a lot of things that were too big, of course. But I also dug up a bunch of things I'd previously packed away because they were too small. A lot of them fit now. It was like going clothes shopping in my own closet. Fun! :D How's everyone else doing? Anyone else have weight loss updates to share?

Gorgeous! She could definitely make money doing this for other people!

Well I always use one. I like having a bit more coverage of the inner thighs and stuff, so a little swim skirt and a tankini top works for me! I don't really care if anyone thinks it looks "fuddy duddy," that's better than showing too much excess flab or anything else lol.

It looks like they are given like two sentences in which to sum up the main idea of an entire book and catch someone's interest at the same time. I'm sure that's no easy feat!

Cat's In The Cradle by Harry Chapin.

You'll start to feel great and forget about having cravings. I never eat grains anymore, pretty much never eat sugars, I've lost 54 lbs so far, and I feel great. :)

He's a tattoo artist and body piercer who owns his own shop. He never even finished high school. He hated school so much, he dropped out! He did some odd jobs for a while, ended up with a tattoo apprenticeship and eventually opened his own shop. Sometimes I shake my head in amazement that somebody like my cousin who has a master's degree can't even find a job in today's economy (the best she managed was a temporary position) and somebody like my husband who dropped out of high school can support his family by owning a tattoo shop. We're very lucky. And in an odd way it makes me feel even more reassured about our choice to homeschool (because I feel like even if said choice DID affect potential college options down the road, that isn't necessarily a bad thing these days anyway...it seems like college gets you a lot of debt and very little by way of job options, and I've seen firsthand how someone with no college education can still earn enough to support a family all while doing something they love to do).

Because it's stupid to have open bodies of water in places where small children spend lots of time? And having a safety railing around said open bodies of water seems pretty logical to me? It's very "easy" to make a breezy comment about how "the solution is parenting" but in reality it's easy for children to slip out of your sight for a few seconds, and all it takes is a few seconds for a young child to slip silently under even a small amount of water where a parent might not see or hear them. And if they die because of that, a child's life is gone forever, a parent's life is destroyed forever, a mall is probably sued, and flippant comments in hindsight along the lines of, "well, they should have parented better" wouldn't change the tragic outcome. A guard rail might though.

Yesterday it was awful. It seems a lot better today.

Wow...thank goodness you were there! If you didn't already, this should be reported to someone high up in mall personnel. They should have to have some sort of safety railing around these things!

:001_wub: That was great. I've never heard anyone speak of an evaluator "requiring proof of socialization" before, but I just love your response! I hope it gives her some serious food for thought! Have you checked the list of evaluators on Pauline's website to see if there are any in your area? http://home.comcast.net/~askpauline/hs/homeschoolevallist.html Also, do you belong to the PA Home Educators Yahoo Group? It's a great email list, they're really helpful about answering questions pretty quickly and helping one another out, so if you don't find anything on Pauline's site, you could always post to that list and ask if anyone can recommend someone in your area: PA-HomeEducators@yahoogroups.com Good luck!

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

I'm in what's considered Central Eastern PA. Schuylkill County. :)

Hi, here's what I wrote about it on my portfolio page, which I just linked Jess to in the post above: Next, I had a section labeled "Attendance Statement." Some people use calendars to demonstrate that they met the time requirements (180 days OR 900 hours of instruction at the elementary level). I use a brief, typed page headed "Attendance Statement" which then goes on to say: "Our homeschooling lifestyle ensures life and learning are inextricable and as such I state that we have completed more than the minimum of 180 days of learning this year (as further attested to in my Supervisor's affidavit, submitted at the beginning of the school year)." I think this could be enough, but if you use a packaged curriculum, you could also throw in something like "and as further evidenced by the fact that we completed a 36 week curriculum in addition to educational and life pursuits outside of curriculum materials." It's not that the law specifically allows or disallows this. The law does not specify that you have to provide a calendar. The law just says the portfolio shall demonstrate that an appropriate education is occurring, and that appropriate education includes instruction for the required amount of time. So you have to demonstrate in SOME way that you met the required days or hours, but they do NOT tell you how you have to do that. Again, there is NO SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT written into the law for HOW you demonstrate your time requirements! So some people show some sort of calendar, some people do some sort of statement, some people feel they have to show it in the "log" (I'm not a fan of that, to me it's overcomplying). Here is a discussion on Pauline's website regarding the days/hours requirements and different ways in which you can demonstrate it in your portfolio, with printable sample forms you can use if you'd like to: http://home.comcast.net/~askpauline/hs/homeschooldayshours.html Hope this helps! :) ETA: So far I've used my "attendance statement" for the past three years in a row and my evaluator and school district both accepted it without question. You know how districts are around here...some are easy going, some aren't, some will nitpick about one thing, but not another, some have their own interpretation of the law, some make it up as they go along lol...but the attendance statement has been working for me! Attendance for a homeschooler indeed. How silly anyway. :)

Jess, no. Here's a link to exactly what I included in my last accepted portfolio, with some pics. I go for a more minimalist portfolio: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/226816.html That will tell you and show you exactly how I put it together and what I included in it. :)