[guacamole]

Hello everyone and welcome KG123!

Annie - I think your soaps are so creative and cute! Keep going with it. You might even consider trying to sell them on Etsy or Ebay. Who knows? I like your picture with your sons. You really look great! Very youthful.

NEMom, I know how you feel about not being in control of your food even after you have lost weight. I think for me, I keep adjusting my diet to eliminate the unhealthy things and find replacements. Now that I have eliminated unhealthy things from my everyday diet (still give myself leave to eat some "off plan" foods on weekends) I am looking for replacements. Sometimes my replacements are not as healthy as I first thought, and I end up trashing them too. Also, everyone's metabolism is different, so something that might be ok for one person to eat, might cause weight gain in another. Also, I have certain trigger foods - bread being among them - and I know I can't stop at a moderate portion so I have to stay away altogether (except on weekends).

So, I am constantly playing with my food. I also just read that juicing can cause weight gain, so now I am worried that I might have gained weight. I figure if I am eating on plan, and using juice as a meal replacement or supplement to a salad with protein, it can't be that bad? However, I will know when I weigh myself next.

[Ashley777]

nemom, not sure if ssi is the same as ssd as I am canadian. Hubby said ssd has nothing to do with wifes income. We were married in 05 and after a review for him they dropped him. he had been on Social Security Disability for about 5 years. Even though we moved back to canada he can still collect here. We moved back to canada cause i can make more than double here what I did in the U.s at the same kind of job which brings me to another comment. We lived in idaho so maybe its different but I don't know how alot of people make ends meet. I had a good job with good benefits in idaho and we moved back to canada cause we couldnt make ends meet with my income. On the plus side of that while i lived in the U.S my daughter had a baby so I am glad to live down the street from her cuase now she has 3 girls and my son has a son as well.

Life is such a journey, I cant believe how upset I was last week, stupid emotions. I am thankful for what I have and my family and yes even my smoking husband and my job and living near my grandkids.

Trying to be positive and live without binging one day at a time.

[patchworkpenguin]

Annie, I'm sorry I forgot to comment on your cute soaps. they are darling. I bet they would make great small gifts or stocking stuffers. Send the picture even with the goofy hat, everyone will understand. Boys can be goofy!

Guac, I'm afraid I don't know much about juicing one way or another.

KG, welcome, glad to have you join us! I don't run often but I started by doing intervals, 1 min jog, 3 min walk, 1 min jog, etc, and built my way up.

NE, I hope you are feeling better by now.

[patchworkpenguin]

Wed Nov 30
B= 2 c milk, vits, poptart
L= Old Venice salad, 1/2 Chicken Rustica Panini, 1/2 breadstick
s= Pumpkin fluff, 2 squares
D= Sweet Pot cas, green bean cass, dressing, cornbread
S= 6+ today's cookies {had to bake more for tomorrow's luncheon}
E= none~ spent most of the day sitting on the heating pad again. I did start the sweater Im knitting for Hubby for Christmas!

Right- having a starter salad and stopping when full at lunch

Wrong= Eating as many cookies as I did yesterday

Regret= thinking "I deserve cookies because I'm hurting"

I'm going to go soak in the tub again...

[natamars]

Down to 135.2 this morning! Love when the scale moves in the right direction. No night eating, jogged 2.5 miles, 1 hr. body sculpting.

pp, hope you feel better today.

ashley, sorry you've been having a rough time. Hope you can get things straightened out with your DH's disability.

guac, let me know what you find out about juicing. A lot of people love it, and I don't see how you can go wrong with the ingredients you're using.

annie, good luck with the weigh-in. 2 miles is great!

KG, I had also done a bit of running years ago but just got back into it last year. My weight loss was stalling and I needed a change. I signed up for a 5K that was about 4 months away. I slowed my pace way down and just started increasing my distance about 10% a week. A lot of people have been successful with the Couch to 5K program - there are threads on it on the Exercise forum. I can still only do about an 11 minute mile..if I can get up to a 10 minute mile I'll be happy! I've done several 5K's and my first 10K in September. My advice is to find a 5K to sign up for..that concrete goal really helps!

[Ashley777]

natamars- thanks and way to go on the scale!

Annie - I somehow missed the pics of your soaps and cant' seem to find them but I am sure they are great!

PP - I like your post, the various reasons we like to eat and yes I have thought the same thing, I deserve this cause I am hurting, or i am bored or I can't deal with my emotions right now, or i will start tomorrow etc,

Have a new mindset again today and doing well, hope to carry that thru the day.

Buffjim - havnet heard from you for a bit hope you are doing well. Although I havent commented on your posts before I do like reading them.

Kg - I use to run alot for alot of years, i have been switching it up for a long time including step arobics, eliptical, hiking/running doing hills, stairs, but i really want to start running agian, i do small intervals like a minute or so while i am walking and move up from there. One thing i did notice was in my 20's it was easier and I could go longer and longer very quickly. Now it is harder and have to work at it harder but I know part of that is because my weight is higher then it use to be and it is harder to lug around 60 more pounds then before.

[Moondance]

Hiya Chicks!

I'm just checking in to see how all of you are doing.

Penguin...hope that bath helped. And I hope your backside is feeling good after your slip.

Natmars...WTG on not eating at night. It's one small victory at a time! And congrats on the moving scale.

Ashley...sorry to hear about your SSD problems. Seems the government pays those who are undeserving more than those who really need it. Good luck!! Your positive attitude is an asset.

Nemom...Glad to hear you're feeling better!

KG123...Welcome. Hey, you've got to start somewhere, right? Who cares what strangers think. Do it for YOU!

Annie...Sorry about the radiator. You're right...it's always something. What's wrong with the hat???

Guac..."playing with your food"...makes me laugh. Isn't that what this process is about? I do it too...looking for better alternatives: finding lower cal, lower sodium, higher nutrition, etc. in everything I eat. I don't know about the juicing thing...I have to eat my calories, not drink them, so it's not a road I'll even consider going down.

Went to the theater last night (Lion King...OMG what an incredible, visual feast that show is!). I even did well with my restaurant choices. Snow today, so my exercise will probably be shoveling.

[NEMom]

I was able to get up and do my exercise this morning, I feel better about getting back into my routine after being sick. Of course, my scale is still back up to 162 but after my thanksgiving free for all I deserve it, even if it is frustrating.
I am wondering if any of you have one part of your body that you hate? I have HUGE thighs. It is a family curse and while I am so much happier with how I look overall now than I was at 220 lbs my thighs are worse. I have never been athletic so I have no muscle mass in my legs. I think the fat gave them some type of shape and with less fat, they are now all jiggle and dis-formed (Really, I am not kidding). I am going to try doing a boot camp class a couple days a week to see if I can tone them up but if they do not improve by summer there is not way I can wear shorts. I had no problem wearing shorts when I was 50lbs heavier but just cannot picture it now. I really hope I can figure something out, aside from plastic surgery, to improve them. I know I will never have runway model legs, I am short and 42, but this was one thing I did not expect. Sigh, thanks for letting me whine.

Gauc - I will always struggle with boredom eating and I have a problem with bread too. It's almost like I feel unsettled if I do not stuff myself at dinner and then have a snack before bed. It try to make my snack healthier but my issue is I am not really hungry yet I feel the need to eat. Weird.

natamars- Congrats on the scale victory!! I love it when the scale is nice to you!!!

Ashley - I am sorry, I do not know what the difference is between SSD and SSI, they sound very similar. I am so glad to hear you are feeling better.

Patch - You are so busy and talented. Knitting for your husband, I am too uncoordinated. I have tried it and end up with a tangled mess.

Hope you all are having a great Thursday!

[guacamole]

Hi everybody! Quick check-in here....very busy morning but made time to juice a bunch of apples and oranges and am sipping as I am typing. Hope that the weekend doesn't do me in. I haven't weighed myself in a week. I am terrified of the scale and feel like I might have gained. I can go months without weighing myself, which is unhealthy. When I don't weigh in, I don't stay accountable. Need to get over the phobia....

[Moondance]

Guac...
Knowledge is power! Get on that scale!!

[guacamole]

Well, I made brownies for my kids, and couldn't resist. I did so good with my eating today, and binged on chocolate. It's not even that TOM! I have no excuses. Why do I sabotage myself? Hope to do better tomorrow.

[patchworkpenguin]

thurs Dec 1
B= 2 c milk, vits, toast/straw jam
L= Potluck luncheon, 2 sausage rolls. Itailan bread with pizza sauce/cheese dip, 2 crackers with chicken salad, strawberry cake
S= too many cookies {15?}
D= chili, cornbread
S= ice cream
S=cheese and craackers SIGH
E= none

Right= I had a good breakfast and sensible lunch for a potluck.

Wrong= Eating 'too many cookies' and not really fighting the urge

Regret= not fighting the urge, having ice cream later, then cheese/crackers

Guac, I am in the same boat as you. I ate way too much today. Start again tomorrow! I get that the juice is good for you, but aren't you missing out of the fiber and other advantages of eating the fruit itself?

Moomdance, glad you enjoyed the movie.

NE, why is it the smaller we get the more self conscience we get about our bodies? I'm sure adding some muscle will help.

[natamars]

Another decent day, other than a small candy binge in the afternoon(not even good candy - yuck!). No night eating and 40 minutes on the treadmill. I'm slowly increasing my jogging speed, trying to get up to a 10 minute mile. My town has a big 10K in September - this past year was my first and it took me 71 minutes. Would LOVE to be able to do it in an hour next year.

135.0 on the scale today. TOM is due next week, so if I can maintain until that's done I'll be happy.

pp, it's great that you write everything down even when it's not on plan. I need to work on that. Just because I don't write it doesn't mean it didn't happen! How's the hip/backside?

guac, hope today goes better! I'm the same way with the scale. Just bite the bullet and do it.

NEMom I have so many body parts I hate it's tough to choose one! The worst is probably my pooch under my waist. Even when I was 116 lbs. and exercising liek a maniac it was there. I wear Spanx if I wear anything fitted..only a tummy tuck will get rid of it, and I'm too scared of surgery.

moondance, snow already? Where are you? Congrats on your restaurant choices, and glad you liekd the show! It's been on Broadway forever but we still haven't seen it..I always try to get discount tix when I go and they're never available for that one. I've heard it's amazing.

I'm doing a 5K tomorrow - it will be my son's first(he's 8). Really looking forward to it.

Happy Friday!!

[Ashley777]

Moondance, way to go on good choices, the play sounds like it was fun, I actually enjoy snow shoveling it is a great workout and a reason to be outside in the winter.

NEmom glad your feeling better, your body will adjust over time for sure, one thing I found out by accident that worked was climbing stairs and climbing hills about half of my hour long walk at lunch is hills and stairs. When I started walking up the hill by pushing off of the front of my toes at a fast past within two weeks my pants were loose in my inner thighs and I noticed a different shape on my backside as well.

Guac – I don’t weigh often either, I use to be addicted to the scale and weighed 5 times a day that was also when I was addicted to laxatives it was pretty bad. It lasted for about three years so I am glad I no longer do that but I try to weigh myself at least every so often. I would really like to weigh myself on Sun but I will only do it if I can stay on track then I know I will see a loss.
Natamars – hope your 5k goes well, my daughter would like to do a 10 k in the summer and I would like to do it with her, we both have a lot of work to do. I have done these before so I know I can do it.

Fruit Lady – haven’t see you for a while hope you are doing well!
Heres to a good weekend, I want to bake brownies as I know I can have these and stay on plan just have to make sure my mind is in a good place so I don’t eat all of them. I find it helps to have a small piece something I really enjoy while on track.

[NEMom]

TGIF! I am glad that I am not the only one who had a cookie binge last night. Ate good all day, went to a christmas performance last night with mom and sister. On the way home I had an upsetting conversation with my mom, got home and ate 4 cookies. Gawd, sometimes I think I will never get it.
natamars- Best of luck on your 5K. I would love to complete one, maybe this spring/summer I will give it a shot.

guacamole-Your juice this morning sounds good. I watched a documentary about juicing and the guys on there swear it saved their lives and they lost a ton of weight. Hop on the scale. It is only a number and does not define you. (I know easier said that believed). I weigh everyday even when I do not want to because it helps hold me accountable. Plus, I am terrified that one day I will wake up and the scale will show 220lbs again. I guess I weight to make sure my weight has stayed down.

I am really moody and grouchy today. Could be close to TOM and hormonal could be people are really making me mad and I just can't stuff it anymore. Hoping my mood improves soon.
We are expecting snow and ice on Saturday. I hate snow and ice, I am already freezing and probably won't be able to go outside for the weekend without fear of freezing to death.
Hope you all have a wonderful, on plan, fun weekend!!!