[CountingDown]

Hi all - a quick noontime post.
A different day here - school is on break today, and - although I have to work, the electricians are doing some work on the system. So, I can't do much of what I should be doing at work. Thus, I worked half a day at school and I'm working the rest of the day from home where I have a working computer and Internet


Hope you had a great start to the week!

Laurie
We are going out of town tonight with friends, so I may not make it back today.

[Jada1]

I'm so happy! My scale went down again this morning. I wasn't hungry yesterday, so I thought for sure the scale would go up. I guess it is true, that you can lose weight without starving yourself.

[meowee]

Hi there . . .

[flowingair]

Jay -that's quite a race from San Francisco to LA. I can't imagine being able to run or walk that far. Your friend must be amazing.

Laurie-I'm glad you were able to work at home. Is it easier or harder with the distractions.

Nothing too new happening here. Have a great Tuesday. I'm basck to work Wed. My break was really nice.

[hijude]

Well the most inspired I have ever been is by a woman who had no idea what she now weighed and she looked fabulous. Thin almost. She had not weighed herself in 7 years and was going entirely on how she felt.

Anyone read any of Geneen Roth's books? Loved them.

Jay a friend of mine was told the same thing by her trainer. She had to eat more to lose. Something to do with metabolism I guess. I remember a dietician telling me that you had to eat enough calories a day to run you body and everyone is different. There is a key to figure this out but it fails me at the moment.

Anyway after that it was all exercise and burning off the calories. It was important to not be falling into that starvation level where your body starts to store everything as fat.

Hope you are all having a good day. I had a bad food day yesterday. Some leftover feelings about Valentines day. Geez.....
Today was a better day....

Hope you are all well and hope the sun comes back soon....

Did not make it to the gym. There is only so much time in the morning. I may have to start setting an alarm and getting that agenda going.

Nite all................

[JayEll]

Good morning!

Jada, congratulations on that pound!

flowingair, I should have explained more. It's actually a bicycle ride from SF to LA. Still, it is plenty long enough, and it takes the participants 7 days to do it. (It's over 400 miles--not sure of the exact distance.) She was close to 200 pounds last time she did the ride, and was often bringing up the rear--but she made it the whole way. However, she didn't lose any weight, even with all that training (they train for months before the ride), and that helped her decide to join Weight Watchers.

meowee, are you still frozen in place?

soontobelessofme, are you still with us?

the slim me, are you hanging in there?

CountingDown, did the visit with friends go OK?

Jude, I think people like that are very lucky.

As for me... I can't believe what is happening. The goal I set in FitDay was to lose 3 pounds in one month with the higher calorie level. I've done 3 full days of this new plan, and I'm down more than 2 pounds as of this morning. I know that any time one tries something different, weight can change a lot at first--so I'm not shouting yet. But I'm eating something like 300 calories more per day than I was allowing myself on the old plan. In fact, I can hardly get up to as many calories as I'm supposed to eat. (They are all "good" calories, by the way. I didn't decide to eat candy, of course.)

Now I'm wondering if perhaps with all the exercise I have been doing for years, my metabolism has changed in a good direction, and I just didn't trust it.

Well, I'm in it for a month anyway! We'll see!

Jay

[Jada1]

Good Morning Everybody,
Flowingair: I 've been thinking about your quote "Quitting is not an option." It has been in my thoughts since I started this board. That quote keeps me going. Especially when I don't see my weight go down as fast as it went up.
Jay: Thanks for keeping me focused, especiallly about saying a person can go crazy if you change your meal plans. I didn't listen to you of course. Somebody else had told me to keep doing what I'm doing. May have been you again. I get angry at myself for not listening. I can be such a know it all, when I should be listening. I didn't listen to you and I made Teriyaki sauce for my broccoli and chicken, instead of sticking with the vinaigrette spritz. I gained back the pound I lost, but my official weigh-in isn't until Sunday, so I'll get back to the vinaigrette. I was told twice not to change my menu, and I didn't listen. Grrrrrrrrr. That's why I never lose any weight. Little Miss Know It All.
Meowee: Hi there. I always appreciate your checking in to say hi. Sorry I never said hi back, but wanted you to know, it makes my day when you take the time to say hi.
Hijude: Sorry about your "leftover feelings about Valentines Day." Holidays are supposed to be a time for celebration, but they sure can remind us of what's missing. I lost my husband fourteen years ago, and it's just getting to where I can celebrate again. This past Thanksgiving I actually baked & cooked a holiday meal and joined in on celebrating with other family members, when I was just going to the casinos to eat, because I just couldn't get interested in doing what I used to do.
I'm not sure if I'm going to walk today. It's so peaceful at home today. I've been busy with family, and it's been raining and cold. The neighbor kids are back in school, so it's nice and quiet around her again. Sometimes I just like to luxuriate in peace and quiet.

[meowee]

Hi . . .

Oh this yucky Winter is really, really getting me down. Actually, I should be in better humour today because the sun is shining, but all I can think about is the next blizzard that's predicted for Thursday. I just may have to think about becoming one of those Canuky SnowBirds who all converge on Florida every year.

[JayEll]

Meowee, all your buds are down here now! C'mon down, eh?

Jay

[CountingDown]

Lori - I like working at home. It is a nice change. I don't have trouble staying on track since I pretty much set my daily agenda and report only to myself when I am in the office - thus I am used to managing my time well and staying on track.

Jay excellent news Keep it up!

Jude - I have to set an alarm - otherwise I would never make it up to exercise!

Jada - I love my peace and quiet too. I love my family, but an occasional day by myself is HEAVEN!

Linda - LOL, I always laughed at the "snowbirds" fleeing Michigan in the winter - now DH and I can't wait until we can join them! Not sure if we will ever go as far south as Jay - but certainly down around TN where my family is

We DID have a lovely dinner last night. A wonderful restaurant in Traverse City called Red Ginger. Excellent Asian cuisine - and good company as well It was quite a drive for an evening meal, but the roads were clear and dry. We didn't make it home until after 11 though, so I didn't get a chance to get back.

Doing well here - my mp3 player arrived, so I need to spend the evening putting my books and music on it

Oh Happy DAY!

[JayEll]

Hey folks,

How's it going today?

Jada, the scale can fluctuate by that much just for no reason at all, so don't get discouraged. It was probably the salt in the teriyaki sauce that made you hold on to a bit of water.

That's why it's good to take the long view and not try to change things too often.

Did everyone get out for their walk or other exercise? I went for a walk--but I'm supposed to take a day off from the gym today. It's really hard for me to do that these days, but I do need the recovery time.

CD, so you got your new MP3 player!

I'm continuing with my new food plan--so far so good--scale was up a little this morning, but not by much! "Trust the process"...

Lots of tax returns are starting to come in now. Some of you know that I prepare taxes as a sideline during this time of year. So I'm always stressed out a bit, and my gym time and walking really helps there.

For those of you in the U.S. doing your own taxes, be sure not to miss the additional deduction for real estate taxes paid. It gets added to the standard deduction if you don't have enough total deductions for itemizing. If you use software to do your taxes, the program should prompt you for this.

OK, carry on!

Jay

[Jada1]

Flowingair: Your cross country skiing is fantastic. It must be so beautiful.
countingDown: How fun to get your MP3. Love new stuff.
Meow: I've never met anyone from Nova Scotia before. Sounds like a beautiful place to live. It sounded nice to drive to Traverse City. I really enjoy getting out of town for short trips, especially after being stuck at home because of bad weather.
I'm back on track. My scale is going back down again. The sun is shining again, so I'll be walking today. Thanks Jay and good luck with your diet change.

[CountingDown]

Jada - congrats on the scale going down. And Jay is right - it goes up and down naturally - just pay attention to the trends.

Jay - thanks for the reminder on the taxes. I do use software because I can't keep up with all the changes. Our taxes are pretty simple - both employed at the same place for the last umpteen years, lived in the same house for 20 years - itemized deductions are the only thing that changes much.

A busy day here - but I did get in a workout with my virtual trainer My triceps are SORE!

Gotta spend some time transferring over all my "albums" to my new mp3 player. It seems to take forever! And, some are quite old and the ripping software wasn't very sophisticated. The new player is having fits because I don't have all my tags. Oh, well - time to organize my music I guess!

Hope you all had a good day!

[JayEll]

How did it get to be Thursday?

I got up around 5:30--if I wake up around that time, I usually can't go back to sleep, plus the cat has the idea that if I'm awake, it's breakfast time. So, I got some stuff done before going to step class at 9:30. Really worked up a sweat but still can't get through the whole class... It's OK though.

They say we may have rain today, but the last time they said that they LIED. I carry the umbrella anyway.

Going out to lunch downtown in a few minutes--I plan to eat a whole sandwich. Is there no end to this madness? Of course, I have chosen the ingredients ahead of time by looking at the restaurant's online menu.

Now when is JLouBug (Jen) supposed to be coming back from Aloha Land? I could use a Hawaii report about now!

Hope you're all doing well today!

Jay

[Jada1]

I'm excited I found the broccoli/slaw salad yesterday at the store. Bought pita bread and Feta. Never tried Feta cheese before. It was pretty good. I sprayed on vinaigrette spritz and it was a great sandwich.
Anyone who can do the "steps" has my admiration. It's hard to do in my book.