November 1, 2002: Well, I made it through Halloween. I can't wait for Thanksgiving now!! I am such a holiday person. How I am ever going to stay straight this month is beyond me. We are going to a Toby Keith concert on November 15, my friend and I are going to see George Carlin on the 20th, and then Mark and I are leaving for a mini-vacation to New York City on the 23rd! I can't wait for that. Then, we have to go to my mom's to have the requisite Thanksgiving meal. Can you say exercise, exercise, exercise??? Goog grief, I'm hungry all ready! lol

November 4, 2002: I really do have to chuckle at myself...I had geared myself up for a gain today and ended up losing!! Granted, I only lost .2 tenths of a pounds but hey!! A loss is a loss, right? lol Good grief, it brings me to 173.8 which is the lowest I've ever been so it wasn't a completely wasted week. The darn Halloween candy destroyed me. Mental, mental, mental. I don't need that chocolate. Anyway, I hereby declare that his week I will journal EVERY day! Not just in the mornings...but ALL day! If I journal, I lose. If I don't journal, I gain. It's just how it is.

November 6, 2002: I've been journaling...I have also been eating. It's this stupid cold weather...I get bored so I eat. Have to find another past time. lol Our tv interview is on tonight. Hoping it will come out good. Not too much else going on...it is raining hard here in Maine...just thankful it isn't snow or we'd be buried in it.

November 6, 2002: 7pm: The news story of Mark and I aired tonight!!! It was very good! I wish I knew how to add video to my site, I would try to get in on here. Anyone??? It was very nicely put together and I didn't look to overly huge!! The before photos were horrible!! lol They did the EXTREME closeup of them. You don't realize until you see yourself now how big you actually were. Will write more tomorrow.

November 8, 2002: Ugh! I feel like crap! My monthly "friend" arrived yesterday and I am just miserable. Bloated, achy and just plain testy. As if I needed anything additional to add to my salt and chocolate cravings. Anyway, I have so got to get back on track. I am anticipating a gain on Monday and it seems no matter what I do, I can't seem to get it together. Sure, I'm having a pity party today but I'll be better tomorrow. Sympathy and a belly rub...that's what I want today.

November 11, 2002: Now I know why I felt so yucky...kidding aside, I felt yucky Friday and then woke up Saturday with a pain in my chest and fever and chills. Sunday morning I went to the ER and they did x-rays and a cat-scan. I have double pneumonia in one lung. Apparently, that causes pain and the fever. If I could just get my fever to go down...I was running about 103 yesterday and they almost kept me but it went down to 100 and they let me go home. They said if I was a 60 year old woman they would have kept me...They thought I might have had a blood clot, which was scary but it wasn't. I took my temp this morning and it was 99.8 so other than major sweating (good for weight loss, lol) the fever seems to be subsiding. Anyway, I feel miserable. Getting up to go the bathroom is a chore. I am going to try to go to weigh in today...I know I've lost but I have struggled getting in my points the last few days and I am severly dehydrated because of the fever. Let you know later how I am feeling...

November 12, 2002: Feeling better. I got myself out to weigh in yesterday...only a couple of miles away so it only took ten minutes. I lost a pound. I laughed at myself to think I could be so sick but the one thing I thought of was taking advantage of my illness so I could have a good weigh in!! I also was like, I have to eat my points so my body burns the fat! My husband was like, "You are so weird". lol Anyway, I am feeling better today. My chest still hurts and it is really strange...my right side (the one with the infected lung) really pulls and is uncomfortable when I do anything. Yesterday it was just kind of a dull ache but today, whoo! Really biting in. I'm off to the doctor at 11 this morning to make sure I am still okay. I have to get better...we are going to the Toby Keith concert Friday night and I have a million other things to do this week.
My son vacummed for me yesterday. He is almost 7 and I plugged it in for him and I took pictures of him as he vacummed in his Power Ranger undies!! So cute! My daughter washed the table and then washed the floor. She looked like Cinderella. They were pretty good. Good to have them in school today though. When I am done at the doctor I am coming home and going to bed. I am winded from just moving around. But, I lost a pound!!

November 14, 2002: I am so tired. All I have been doing is crying lately...I got on my scale this morning and I weighed in at 178.5. I almost fell over. I weighed 170.5 Monday morning. I guess it is the medications and the pneumonia making me retain something. All I know is, I have a week left of this crap and if I go in Monday morning for weigh in and I gain 15 pounds I am going to rip someone's head off. lol It really isn't funny. I have stayed in my points and I have been getting as much water as I can possibly drink in me...I am just so tired.

November 15, 2002: Feeling better today...I am out of work for another week or so but I am going to the Toby Keith concert tonight. "Who's Your Daddy?" lol I am resting at the moment and my friend Valerie is coming over with her twin babies, Jack and Bella. I haven't seen them in awhile so they are coming to cheer me up. :-) Get some baby snugglin' going on here...my scale still hates me. I did see the doctor yesterday and she said that the antibiotics would cause the fluid build up and extra weight gain. She said it should level out on it's own and I only have five more days of it to go. I just have to watch what I'm eating so I don't gain "real" weight!! Next Saturday we are off to New York City...I can't wait.

November 18, 2002: I knew it was coming...between the medication, the fluid, the heavy sweater (lol), I had a 2.2 pound gain this week. But, it could have been worse...that extra eight pounds I had following me around earlier in the week could have stuck. I wasn't even going to weigh in because I knew it was going to be bad but I figured, what the heck? I don't want to start a habit of not weighing in when I know I've gained. Geez, the rate I'm going, I'd never weigh in.

We went to the Toby Keith concert and it was wonderful!! I was a bit winded on all of the stairs to get to our seats but it was worth it. I am going to see George Cralin on the 2oth...should be very good. Let's hope I can maintain my weight through Thanksgiving and our New York City trip...should prove to be interesting.

November 19, 2002: Marking this day on my calender!! I woke up this morning and hopped on the scale and low and behold, it read 169.5. I slowly stepped off the scale and gathered my wits. Could it be? No, I said. I had Swiss Cake rolls yesterday. I decided to try again and stood on the scale with my stomach sucked in (cause that helps, you know) and bravely looked down. 169.5 again!!! I looked out the window...the world hadn't ended and I'm pretty sure he** hasn't froze over...maybe I just lost the weight. In that case.... *YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**DANCING~BOOOGIE~DANCING* Okay, I'm winded. To make a long story short, I weighed in this morning at 169.5 which is the lowest I have ever been. Apparently the fluid and excess junk from the meds is gone and having no appetite to speak of when I was sick paid off. lol Congrats to me!!!!

November 20, 2002: I woke up this morning with high hopes...I got on to the scale and I was not dissapointed. 168.5!!!! I am so thrilled...I figured I was stuck in the 170's forever. lol I REALLY have to watch what I eat this week on vacation...I AM going to have a good weigh in when I come back.

November 22, 2002: I went to WW again last night and did my weigh in for this coming week. I lost 4.2 pounds!! I needed that. After the gain on Monday and losing all of that fluid, I needed a good weigh in. I weighed in at 170.8 which is so close to 169 it's crazy. We are leaving for NYC tomorrow morning so there won't be any posts here for a week or so. I will try to post pics when I get back.

November 30, 2002: Back from vacation...and a few pounds heavier!!! I will know how much when I go to WW on Monday but I would say at least a five pound gain. We had a wonderful time though. Below is one photo of Mark and I in Central Park...I'll be posting more soon. This was me at about 170...before meals, Thanksgiving, etc...lol