Messages By: cheriemont

 First of all, thanks to Stacie and Cindy and all the rest who worked at getting me the information I needed to get the invitation re-sent and to get logged on. Once I was on it was another hurdle to figure out how to find you all, but I'm here now. I'm still unclear on some things. For instance: how do we mark the last message we read so we can keep our place until we come back the next time? And there are no numbers on the messages so how do we know how many more there are to read to catch up? Are these bugs they're working on?

I'm having trouble with the profile too although they did NOT include my mailing address and some other info--I don't believe I ever gave them that information. But they do have my birthday wrong in there--again the year is right but it says January 1. There is no place in the profile edit page to edit birthdate (as I believe Deb already said), so I don't know if the moderator is telling them to work on that one too. I mean I'm old enough without having 2 and a half years added onto my age LOL.

OOPS! I started right in without the most important thing. WELCOME, GREG!! You have definitely come to the right place and while there are fewer guys here, we do welcome you and there are some. Will is probably the most "visible" as he does post occasionally, but we've also had some other guys lurking on here at various times. I sometimes think they may still be lurking here and just not posting, but they may have moved on to somewhere else too. I do hope you'll stay because the problems and challenges we have when we have 200 or more lb. to lose are unique and we really need the long-term support of others who know what it's like to face a 2-, 3- or 4-yr. weight loss journey (or longer). Some on this board have already lost 100 and 150 lb. and are still moving in the direction of a healthy weight and lifestyle. Some had fewer than 200 to lose when they came here, but stayed for the support in this group. I do hope you will too--you sound so motivated and committed and we all need a dose of that now and then.

Well, I posted my profile and am anxious now to check back and see if it shows up here. The sale went OK--nothing great, but we did unload a lot of stuff. And yes, I was zonked out this afternoon for awhile as the painter was working on the bathroom and making several trips up and down the stairs right past the chair where I'd fallen asleep. I sure hope I wasn't snoring or sleeping with my mouth open or something--I was pretty embarrassed when I woke up and realized I'd fallen asleep there when I only intended to sit down for a few minutes before I started laundry. Oh well. The sleep felt good. Now I need to clean up and get to bed. Company coming tomorrow and my DH leaves in two days for a 2-wk. trip out of state. We have a lot of moving and shuffling of furniture before he can leave so there's still no rest around here.

Have a great day everybody and I hope to see more of you here again.

Cherie

p.s. has anybody sent an e-mail to the rest of the bunch to tell them the secret of how to get on here again? I really did have quite a time and I hope a lot of the others don't have to deal with that too. If someone's already sent them the info, then I won't but if not, I'll send them the message the moderator posted for us to pass along.

 I'm so glad you were able to pass those donuts! Congratulations! But I'm curious, did you pass them up because you didn't want the TOPS people to see you getting them? Or did it have nothing to do with them at all? So often we are co-dependent--dependent on what other people think of us, what we THINK they'll think of us, what they may say, what they do, etc. And rarely are our actions dependent strictly on US and what we choose to do as the best course for us. In either case, the result was a good one, but I do think it's important to examine not only why we eat unhealthy foods but also why we DON'T eat them at various times. If it was a reaction to those people being near the donuts, then your guard may be down some other time when they aren't around, especially if you're feeling you have a handle on it after passing the donuts by. BE PREPARED and you will be stronger and better able to pass them by EVERY time, no matter who may be there. You are doing so well and I know you're setting a great example for your son too. Hang in there--you've come a long way and we need to stay focused on the goals--both short-term and long-term.

Have a great weekend.

Cherie

 Linda, I hope you keep trying to come back. I'm sure there are bugs on this system but they do seem to be working them out fairly quickly. We do need your input here and we all missed you so much lately. I do hope you'll ignore what you see on your screen as you type and trust that it will look ok when it's posted. It looked fine to me just now when I read it.

I think getting your weight back down to 365 is fantastic!! Mine is up 4 lb. from the first of the month, but I feel like it's up about 14 lb. instead. I know a lot of it is liquid as I'm not getting enough sleep these days, but my DH leaves on a trip Tuesday morning and my days will be more controllable then--no interruptions at inconvenient times to cook dinner and I can have salads a lot more for my meal. I know I can fix salads for dinner while he's home, but then I have to fix something cooked for him and the smells get to me and I want some of that too besides the salad, so I wind up eating 2 dinners--or at least a dinner and a half. NOT GOOD.

I'll stop on here again in the morning to try to catch up. I wish the messages would be numbered again (listening, Moderator?) as it's so much easier to pace myself in reading the posts.

Have a great day!
Cherie

 I'd heard they were having trouble with the RED color on the new board, but just now I noticed your post came through in blue and against the light blue background, blue is nearly impossible for me to read. In fact, I had to "select" it as if I were going to delete it and when it was highlighted, I could read it, but not without doing that. Also, your other messages were coming through in the bigger type and now it's gone to little type again. The big type works great and I see that just about everybody has selected that (it can be set when you change your profile, for those who haven't selected "large font" yet).

Your kitty is adorable. I agree though about the skinless one, I know they're rare and very expensive, but they just don't look cuddly like cats are supposed to be (at least in my biased mind).

I'll have to get more rest before I try to experiment with the photos inside the message, but it sounds intriguing.

I didn't notice but is there a "tips and tricks" type page on this new board? I really liked the old one as it did tell us how to insert photos, etc.

Somebody also mentioned that their delete and backspace keys did not work--they had to use the arrow keys to correct typos. Well, mine is doing the opposite! I can use delete and backspace, but my arrow keys are worthless on this system. I don't know what the difference is, or maybe the programmers switched it.

Well, I do think it's about time to round up the rest of the group, don't you? And since nobody said they'd already sent out a mass e-mail to everybody, I think I will.

Also, I don't think they were singling me out for any reason by not sending me the e-mail invitation; apparently I'm not the only one who never got it and not the only one who had trouble getting logged on (I was glad to hear that because I tend to have self-image problems to begin with and don't need to start thinking I'm the ONLY one who can't do things. LOL

Talk to you tomorrow!

Cherie

 Is it just me or are the photos for the same person DIFFERENT with different messages? On the old board if we changed our photo on the profile, it changed for all messages we had ever posted on any of the boards. THIS board seems to attach a particular photo to a message and leave that photo there, while the poster can put a NEW photo in the profile and that NEW photo will be on the current messages, leaving the old photo on the old messages. WOW! How cool is that!?!?

Or is it my imagination? Moderator, if that's the way it works, PLEASE ask the programmers to leave that in. It's so good to be able to see temporary photos that we post for a special occasion, or maybe a "before" photo. Or maybe we can just document our progress by the photo diary we post with our messages! As I said HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!

I think as time goes on we'll find more things to like about the new board. I know Stacimarie and I will appreciate that we can write NOVELS and not have to break them into 5 or 6 separate messages to get them all on here.

Now, will all you lurkers please post a brief "hi" so we know you got on here successfully. And then I'll go out and round up the rest of the crew this week. I'm sort of tied up now helping my DH get ready for his trip, but once he's gone I'll be a single woman for 2 weeks and can play to my heart's content without having to do housewife-type things.

Talk to you again tomorrow. I MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

BTW, Autumn, if you're there, are you still working on a new format for our weighttracker website? I keep checking and hope you are. I'm not trying to rush you, but just don't want you to skip it. We all appreciate your efforts for us so much.

And JAN, PLEASE post your success this month. I didn't ever mean to imply that reading someone else's success would bring me down--on the contrary, it is so inspiring to me and helps me focus again and stay on track. I tend to sabotage my own efforts whenever I compete (I knew that going into this month's challenge) but I really was motivated to do it until the board died and I got into a downward spiral of stinkin' thinkin' and non-stop grazing in the kitchen. I really do wish you all the best with this competition and am anxious to see EVERYBODY's success posted when Bev comes back.

btw, it was also neat to see that Bev checked in here--so we know she's able to get online again and we WILL see her after her sabbatical. I believe Stacie-gator is still camping and was going to be gone for a couple of weeks (I think). I'm sure she'll be back on here when she gets back to a computer. And Megan, if you're lurking, come out of lurkdom and join us--we need you here!!

Gotta get to bed now. See you tomorrow.

Cherie

 Thanks for pointing that out. I haven't clicked on that yet, but didn't know it would replace the tips and tricks feature.

Are you the same person as our Moderator? Or are you someone else with a different username? Just curious.

Cherie

 As many people have already stated, my birthdate is also listed wrong on my profile and I am unable to edit that one item. The year is correct but the month and day are wrong. Please pass this along to the programming team so I can edit my birthdate OR have them remove it because I don't like them saying I'm older than I actually am :)

Thank you,

Cherie

 Hi glmark (Is your name Mark?) and welcome to the best board ever for support along the weight-loss journey. I have to apologize for not welcoming you sooner, but my feeble senior brain just saw the username glmark and I knew we had a new guy on here whose username also started with "G" and I didn't really register the whole username so I thought you were the same person. It wasn't until this morning when I saw him writing a post to you that I realized you are two separate people!! So, please forgive me for not welcoming you sooner and let me assure you that we are ALL on the same journey--some of us have more bumps in the road than others, but we will ALL reach that get-real goal weight together too. Hang in there! Read the book again and again (20 times if that's what it takes), drink your water, make healthy food choices and move your body daily. AND come here to the boards each day too and read and post--even if it's just "HI" to stay connected to your support system. We're all here for you and even though messages may not be addressed to you (with your name in the subject line), they are ALL here to help ALL of us.

Hang in there and have a great day!

Cherie

p.s. so how many of you are changing the little Emote window each time you post messages?

 I just read some of the posts on this board and I feel the pain you are in. I started the WLC at 360 lb. and found a wonderful support group right here on the Dr. Phil website. It's under "Message Boards" and then under "Weight Loss Challenge Discussions" with the WEIGHT topics you'll find if you scroll down on the Message Board page. We're the 9th board listed (as new boards get added, we may change to 10th, 11th, etc. as the boards are arranged alphabetically). I'm talking about the board called "200 pounds or more to lose".

We have people in our group in the 400s and 500s and most in the 300s when they started, but we also have some (a few) who did not have quite 200 to lose when they joined us but also had a very large amount to lose so they share those special challenges with us, especially facing a long-term program of weight loss (I'm talking 2, 3, 4 or more years to get to our goal). We would be so happy to have you come and join our group. We'll give you the loving support you need along the way, tips and hints to help you over the rough spots and an occasional kick in the pants if you need that too (gently, of course).

We, like many of the boards online, are mostly women, but there are a few guys who have joined us too and ALL are welcome. About the only restriction we have on our board is we request that members not use profanity and to not be critical of one another--we're all doing the best we can and we're there to HELP one another, not heap more criticism and judgment upon one another.

I hope to see you over on that board if you fit the criteria. You'll be so glad you came to join us.

Cherie

 I don't know if it's a glitch with this new system or if it's me, but I tried to copy/paste something in a message yesterday and it wouldn't work within the message. I sure didn't like that! My right click shows the features "copy", "paste" and "cut" but they are shaded and not functional when I'm in the message box. MODERATOR: Please ask the team to fix that one!! I often like to write a note and then change it without having to retype the entire thing.

At least I don't have to copy the last part of a message to put in a new message because it was too long and got cut off on the first one. I LOOOOVE that feature. Of course that's because I often writen novels.

I'm so happy to see so many familiar faces here--Jen, Jeannie, Maureen, Autumn, Linda, Elaine, etc. And while I do agree with Rebecca that we need to share our own views and support here, I also appreciate the referrals to other websites and sharing of other experts' words. Months ago Jan introduced me to Ralph Marston and I've subscribed to his motivators ever since. There are also several websites I've checked out thanks to friends here recommending them and the books I'll get after we move. At this point I have about 2000 books to get rid of before we move so I'm determined to NOT buy any new ones until we're settled.

That picture of your corner of the world was enticing--can't remember now, was that Kansas? Sure didn't look like it--looks more like the coast somewhere, or do you live on a large lake?

Last night we had an earthquake here. It's the biggest one I've felt since I was a little kid in 1959. It was 5.6 and centered over 100 miles from here but felt pretty much all over the western part of the state (and Montana is a BIG state!). My DH and I were sitting at the computer and it hit; we just sat there and looked at each other with eyes bugged out waiting for the rolling and rumbling to stop. I have to tell you it brought back memories of the bad one in '59 and all the fears that went with it. It's such a helpless feeling and I hope there aren't big earthquakes where we're moving. I checked on google last night and evidently Arizona does NOT have lots of them (I know all places have them all the time, but many are so small we don't feel them--evidently that's the kind they have in AZ).

My DH leaves today for 2 weeks so while he's gone (and I hate it when he's gone) I'll have a chance to get some things done that I don't do when he's here. I'm still working on decluttering and have a mountain left to tackle, but I'm hopeful that most of it will be gone when he returns. And today marks just 31 days until we leave for our home-buying vacation--I'm sooooo excited to get going and decide for sure which TOWN we'll move to and (if the right place is on the market) to make an offer on a house or condo while there.

Autumn, my DD and her fiance plan to life the simple life too and buy a piece of land to build their own place on using alternative construction -- straw bale house or some such. They've both studied it for several years and I'm confident they could do it, but have suggested they work at a Habitat for Humanity house first to hone up their construction skills. Also, without an education I don't know where they'd plan to get jobs that would give them enough money to buy a piece of land. But reality will set in, I'm sure, after they're married. It's hard enough for couples to make a marriage work--I just worry that they'll have financial trouble right off the bat and that can stress even the best marriage. He does seem to be ambitious as far as working though and she can live on next to nothing, but that can get old too.

Well, I'm supposed to be at work in one minute and I'm not dressed yet. So guess I'll sign off and try to get there in 20 minutes (good thing I live close to the job). Have a great day, everybody, and I hope those of you having problems DO come back and stick with us. If you're having troubles because you have a Mac or WebTV system, why not consider getting a real computer--I mean a PC? You can pick up a used one cheaper than WebTV and a new one is about a fourth the cost of a Mac and with the new software, they're EASY to use. I got my new one last summer and LOVE it. The whole thing--monitor, speakers, etc. was under $500 and it came with all the software preloaded and tons of memory to do all that I could ever want to do. Years ago I could see where people who were afraid of computers might turn to one of those but today the PCs are very user-friendly and you can do so much more with them than either a Mac or WebTV!

See you all later on--enjoy the sunshine and beat the heat by drinking a lot of water.

Cherie