[Dan2112]

Starting us off early this week, ladies...

I have to talk about something...
I was shopping at WallyWorld on Sunday, getting the weekly groceries...

As I was loading my cart onto the checkout table, a lady pulled in behind me.

This was a very large lady.. She had a cute little girl in the cart. She also had some other stuff in the cart that really ticked me off. Aside from a bag of shredded lettuce and a small package of ground beef, there was not one non-processed item in the cart. packages of ramen soup, mac and cheese cups, boxed dinners, half a dozen banquet pot pie meals, marshmallows, chips, candies, etc... I almost vomited.

The other thing I did, was come very close to telling her off, especially when her little girl reached for a bag of beef jerky in the checkout line and her mom let her have it... At the same time, I felt sooooo superior to her.. Kind of like: "Ha Ha.. Look at all the good stuff I'm feeding my family"...

And as I walked away, I felt ashamed for the things I thought.. I took the victories I've had in losing weight and held them up over another person..

So my thought for the week is to celebrate your victories, but remember from whence we came.. It wasn't that long ago that is was US that had carts full of processed foods and it was us who stopped at the drive thrus for a quick snack.

I know this isn't a very upbeat way to start the week for me, but I think once in a while we can lose sight of the big picture when we're focused on the final goal.

[Heather5]

Good Morning!!!

Dan-- I completely understand where you are coming from. I feel bad for those people because they probably have never been taught to eat healthy and this will probably get passed on to their kids.

My BF used to be one of those people. He used to eat fried food and have several drinks whenever we went out to eat. Then he would get frustrated because he had a belly. No matter how much I would try to help him make better food choices it didn't help. I had to be careful that I didn't push the issue too much otherwise it would get on his nerves. It wasn't until he made the commitment himself to lose the weight and exercise. Now a little over a year later he is 60 pounds lighter, eats healthy, and exercises everyday! I am so proud of him.

Heather

[Heather5]

Has anyone ever done the 21 day boost? I am thinking about doing this the next time I do TO before vacation. What do you guys think?

Below is a post from another thread:

Here are the directions for a 21 Day Boost. I am planning on using the Slim Fast High Protein for the LA Slimdowns, Luna Bars for the Lites and Knudsen + Fibersure for the Fast Forward Juice.

21 day boost

The 21 day boost is the alternating of the Take Off, the use of slim downs and the regular program.
Day 1 and 2- Take Off
Day 3 and 4 Regular Plan
Day 5-9- Replace Slim Down with 1 P, 1 S
Day 10-11- Regular Plan
Day 12-17 Replace Slim DOwn with 1 P, 1 S
Day 18,19- Regular Plan
Day 20, 21- Take Off

[Kristinx]

Hi Everyone! FIrst weekend on plan and it was a little rough at times. I wasn't POP but I wasn't bad either. Will weigh in tommorrow to see what my loss was for the first full week!

[Hoochie]

Dan- You are so right. We need to celebrate our victories. After I have lost almost 15 pounds, I feel so much better about myself. I find that I am definately buying better food at the store.
The last few weeks I have really struggled so my hubby and I have a food binder that we keep in our kitchen and we are going to record everything we eat this week. I am so glad that he is finally going to do this with me.
Have a great week Dan!

[4princesses]

Hoochie.. great idea! The food binder idea sounds great!
Kristin.. can't wait to hear.. keep up the good work and stay POPping!
Healther.. never tried it but it sounds 'do'able
Dan, I am a cart snooper too... I ate 'pretty' good before, but even those little changes make a HUGE difference (like eating breakfast and being able to afford decent food...). I wish my parents taught me proper eating when I was young, now I can teach my 4 beautiful girls the RIGHT way to eat and they will be all the better for it.

My #3 princess had surgery this week, then ended up with a fever & uti, then was allergic to 2 different meds they put her on. I have had her in the hospital 4x since thursday. I feel bloated from not enough water, I ate the best I could but it is tough when you have no time to grab something on the way out to the ER.. Hospital food is NOT healthy at ALL!!! Between no sleep and a messed up few days, I decided to go back on TO for the next 2 days. I need to get things back in order. Catch you all later!

[Mama Nicole]

Oh, Elizabeth, you poor little princess And poor you.......I know how hard it is to have your baby in the hospital to begin with...and then to have all of those complications. I hope she feels better soon

Dan.......while I completely hear what you are saying about the lady's cart, I also have to remind you that many people are practically forced to eat in unhealthy ways......they are often limited by income and lack of education. And I have to tell you, as a mom that feeds 6 kids.....beef jerky is a big expense. Of course, I understand she has goodies and candies and such in her cart also.........but it can be such a struggle to feed a family for some, that they kind of give up, and buying some candy is just the norm. I can say from experience that I can feed my family smoked sausage and sour kraut from Walmart for $7.80 (8 people), and I can feed them mac n cheese and weiners for $7,20, and heck, Ramen noodles is a dream for my checkbook. I live in a very diverse area.......just north of me is low income, just west of me is where all the money is, just east of me is the city proper, and just south of me is well off hick ville. Our neighborhood is a pretty good combination of all, with most of us being middle class. I went to the Wally world that some think is bad, you know, cuz it is not all people who are exactly like me on Saturday. I was thrilled because Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce was only $2.50 (for the big bottle). I was visiting with the cashier, and I told her how excited I was that the BBQ sauce ws only $2.50, and she said, "Shhh, don't tell anyone.......it will fly off the shelves." We both laughed a bit, and then I expressed my concern over the high price of groceries.......she then made a very profound statement that addresses this issue. She said, "It is a shame that we now have to decide how we are going to eat because we might not afford the food we want to feed our families." I was blown away. I knew I had made choiced in the past that price dictated, that were not so healthy.....but I grew very sad walking to my car, knowing that many people are in that position each and every time they grocery shop. Anyway.......not coming down on you Dan......cuz we are ALL guilty of judging people's carts (I do it to)......and I love your thought process on the whole ordeal.....I love it when people take the time to think things through, not just follow their first though.........it is just a sad state our country is in. It is sad there is not more awareness.....it is sad that low income and obesity go hand in hand....along with all the health issues it causes. And, it completely blows me away how freeking much it costs to feed a family healthy foods. And I don't buy many packaged foods....I break my own lettuce, peel my own carrots.. cut my own meat...yada yada yada. It's just insane.

Wow, sorry about the speech.......it is funny, I had planned on sharing that story with you guys anyway....I guess I got a bit carried away.........shocker, huh?

Ok, have to run.........the kids have to day off in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King.......have to get them doing something productive.

Oh, and Jullie.....yeah, believe it or not......they did clean up their mess from valentines.
XOXO

[BarbaraB]

Dan, I too have judged people by what is in their cart... or even worse my sister for the amount of ice cream they eat and the massive Christmas baking she does... Which when you are clinically morbidly obese and your husband has diabetes, I don't understand how you can justify that. Some people have chosen that junk over their very life, and it is so sad....

Elizabeth, I hope your little princess is doing better. 4 times to the hospital sounds like a nightmare. Sometimes you just have to make the best choices possible and pick back with trying to lose when the dust settles.

Nicole, That ticker appears to be down even more! Low carb definitely agrees with you. I lose well on it too, but I can't keep it up for long, since apparently I'm from the same cloth as my sugar addicted sister...

I had another weekend sticking closely to plan.... it has been a couple in a row and that makes all the difference.

[JLem311]

hey everyone. just thought i'd stop by and say hi. i haven't been feeling too well today. got sick after eating this morning..not sure why, i just don't feel very good. DD didn't have school today so both kids were over at my house for the morning. we played, baked cookies, watched movies and had fun. former dh is working the rest of the afternoon from home, so he picked them up a little bit ago. so now i'm going to rest.

hope everyone had a good weekend.

[bradleys mom]

Hi everyone! Back on track this week! Doc has cleared me for low impact exercise starting today, so now its time to get these 9 mysterious lbs off that have added themselves since the surgery! (Changing the ticker..)

Wanted to share a fun pic from today!

[amylou7777]

Happy MLK day friends!

I skipped my walk this morning and got started cleaning this house. We took a day trip to San Francisco on Saturday and I really struggled with food choices. It's so hard when you don't really know where you'll end up etc. I made great lunch choices, but our dinner plans got all mixed up and I kinda blew it out of starvation. But, I'm movin' on. I've been great today, despite the bag of gummie bears DF decided to bring home and leave in the pantry?! That's ok-not that great of a cheat anyway right?

KimR- look at how big that boy is! Wow-I can't believe you guys are playing in snow while it's so warm here. I should be outside in this sun. Don't worry about those mystery lbs-they are totally faking you out-they'll be gone VERY soon! Hang in there!

Elizabeth-really sorry to hear about your daughter. What a nightmare. I really hope she is ok and hope you can get back to a normal life and eating pattern. Hang in there!!


Krisitn-hope you show a loss tomorrow!!

Nicole-omg you are doing awesome! makes me want to go back to low carb! I think I'm really going to watch it this week, since I know my carb intake is exactly what is slowing me down. I hear ya on the grocery thing. We went to wally world yesterday and it was crazily packed. I saw lots of people with frozen meals. I wish I peeled my own carrots and broke my own lettuce...I'm just afraid that would prevent me from eating em! Congrats on your loss girlie!

Dan-I do the exact same thing all the time. It always makes me sad to see people who have obvious health issues buying thigns we all know they shouldn't have. I know from my own experience that people stop caring. They do what is easy and what tastes good. That junk gets addicting and they don't even remember what real food tastes like!

Barbara-are you sill doing flat tummy diet? I hear ya on being of the same cloth as the sugar addicts. It's up to us to end the cycle right?

Hoochie-GL with the food binder! It's always so much easier when the man is on board.

Hi Jillian!

I w/i tomorrow-I'm really nervous that I wont show a loss, or even worse show a gain. Ugh. Eating out is just crazy. Even when I thought I was making pretty good choices, WW did not agree with me.

Ok-back to cleaning! My mom is visiting on Thurs and through the weekend, we're planning on going out for a steak dinner so I am going to be a very good girl until then!

[BarbaraB]

Amy, Yeah I'm still doing the flat belly diet. I promised myself that I would stick with it through the 28th. My DH is doing it with me, so that added support really helps me. I don't imagine that I would like to count calories for the rest of my life though. It got me back weighing and measuring, so that is a positive.

I'm doing better at resisting all the food in the office. Our office is just awash in food. The office administrator goes to costco and buys candy for us to have in the lunch room. so there is a constant supply of candy there. Always something new... little dove bars, or hershey kisses, little dark chocolate bars, or red vines or lately it has been chocolate covered raisens... Then they start baking the fresh baked bread in the bread maker... nothing like fresh from the oven bread baking just a few feet outside of your office. I just have to not let myself have any of this, since as soon as I allowed myself a little, I was eating it all the time, and now I need to relose some weight. Between that and weekend indulgences, well it is so easy to let some pounds slip on and then a couple of more...

[almsthere]

Hey, everyone! I am kinda back. I got the okay to begin dieting around 12 weeks...i took the last few weeks to get myself psyched up to return back to weighing and measuring and planning healthy! The biggest obstacle for me is getting all of my servings in and honestly, I am kinda tempted not to even try too hard. But then, I think about how much better I feel, much more energy I have and I can't believe I hadn't done it sooner, etc. etc. My second big obstacle is obssessing about the scale. I think I need to pick one weigh in day and that is it! So maybe then I won't be so moody when the scale moves up instead of down.

My kids were home today too but luckily the two older ones were invited for a last minute playdate during the little ones nap time and DH was home. The playmate lives on the next street over. So, I got to take a NAP for 1.5 hours with no interruption! Even the baby slept!!! It was wonderful! So, I was in a little better place when I had to go and pick them up in the snow!!!

Everyone's tickers are looking great! I can't wait to get out of the 160s...sadly I have gained about 10lb postpartum already and I'd like it to leave me at once!!

Have a great week...and stay POP!

[Joni135]

Dan (and Nicole) - thanks for starting us off on such an interesting note...bottom line is we just cannot be too quick to judge...but I must say, your description of that lady's cart does amaze me. I think I'd be embarrassed to shop like that. I usually take pride when my grocery cart is filled with good stuff and if/when I'm shopping for "party food" or "office gathering" stuff, I typically find myself justifying my bad purchases by telling the check out clerk why I'm buying junk....how silly is that? I think a great reality show (nutrition based) would be to ambush shoppers with a bunch of junk in their cart and teach them the right way to shop...sort of like "What Not to Wear" tv show.

Oh well....hope everyone has a good week. I reluctantly went and did a 45 minute spin class tonight and felt so good afterwards!

My gym (a Gold's Gym) does a lot of promos on Monday nights and I wound up talking to someone and I'm going to host a "Cash for gold party" at my house next month.....I have quite a bit of "junk" gold jewelry that I haven't worn in years so it will be nice get a few bucks for it without having to wander around town looking for the most honest jeweler. I'm typically very suspicious and cautious about stuff like this, but after talking with the owner of the business (an older lady) and the two guys who test the jewelry, remove stones, etc., I'm fine with doing this. For hosting the party, I can get 10% of the receipts or I can donate the 10% to a charity of my choice. Considering I had a busted water pipe this weekend and had to pay $500 for the repair and another $1,000 towards my insurance deductible, I may have to make me the main charity this time around!

okay...way past my bedtime.

[Kristinx]

Well today was a weigh in day. One week ago I started the program. And of course...I literally GAINED like a pound and a half since yesterday! Probably my body knew it was weigh in day...lol. J/K But it is pretty discouraging....someone please tell me this is normal for the first week? I know my body is still adjusting to the diet changes..it's juist hard to see a gain. In the end though..I am DOWN 3 lbs since a week ago when I started and that is decent. Past history has shown that I rarely see a result in week one..then I see a bigger loss in week 2...but man I am frustrated!!