I am having trouble with eating the right stuff right now. This cold weather messes with my eating. The salads and other things that are my "go to" foods for eating/snacking are just not appealing to me in this cold weather. I can't seem to come up with very many warm food options to replace those things.
I think at this point in the year, I am just going to try to maintain. With the holidays coming up and some visits to relatives over the holidays, I think I will be doing good if I can maintain without gaining very much.
Carol Sue ~ I wish the strategy you shared that helps you, would work for me, but just a little bit of sweets starts me wanting more all over again. I just gotta keep trying until I find something that works for me.
Hi Ladies. I am glad to see this thread is holding on for a little while longer anyway. I am doing much better lately, although I have not really lost much. Last month was killer though. I am obviously an emotional eater! All those bad vacation vibes set me up for a five pound weight gain. But having mostly recovered from the emotional drubbing I endured from my not so dear brothers, I am down a few pounds now. I am a person that really has to focus in order to not be overweight. Otherwise, I go overboard on the sugar and in no time-none of my clothes fit. As it is, I bought new clothes but the extra pounds do not look so good even in a bigger size. The mirrors at the gym in particular tell me so. However, I am feeling confident right now that I am going to be in control again. My biggest worry is the impending holidays. I am thinking if I can just keep the overeating to a very small window, perhaps I can control the damage. That, plus extra exercise. I am fortunate in that I enjoy working out and I have the time. For awhile there, work was getting in my way, but I solved most of my work issues so I have plenty of time and energy available for fitness pursuits.
Carol Sue-Thanks for the tip. I love vegetables and eat quite a bit of them. It certainly doesn't tame the sugar monster though. It's just something I have to deal with.
Gayle-I noticed you went from maintaining to not gaining very much in the same sentence. You sure want to go into the holidays with that plan? I like to face the holidays thinking I am going to keep trying to lose weight. I figure with the slip ups, I will be lucky to come out with maintaining!
Tera ~ I guess the maintaining and gaining all in the same sentence was confusing. For me ~ maintaining is not one fixed number ~ it is kind of a small range. So, when I am thinking about maintaining ~ it is holding steady in a certain area. And when I talk about gaining while maintaining it is gaining (going up and down) the same couple pounds ~ to me that is maintaining ~ sort of I guess and and
Sorry for being MIA. The work weekends really take their toll, and around a month ago my husband's favorite sister died (he came from a BIG family, so he definitely has favorites with a lot of craziness and dysfunction thrown around), so things were chaotic for a while and we were doing a lot of "walking on eggshells" the first week and then the scramble to find money to get him a ticket and get him back home (Mississippi) for the funeral when he finally decided at the last minute to go...and then a week of drama while he was there and miserable because of dealing "live" with the rest of his family. He normally gets the kids up and to school while I sleep since I work so late, so with him gone for a week I was definitely burning the candle at both ends-- bedtime around 3-4 a.m. each night and up at 7:45 to start the school day. Needless to say, it was a long week. LOL
Anyway....life goes on! Gayle, I hope you are coming up with some cool weather snacks and exercise ideas since it's harder to get out to exercise now. It's frustrating when you finally get a routine going and then Mother Nature changes it on you. The regrouping is hard. I think your maintaining within range is a good goal for the holidays. They are hard enough as it is, and I think we should be able to enjoy them...even if just a bite or two of something special...and as long as we consciously have a sense of control, it gets us through without the guilt and with some enjoyment. :-)
Tera, good to hear that work is getting straightened out and that your stress levels are better. You are so dedicated to working out that the 5-pound gain you had will be gone before you think much about it! I have no doubt that your plan will carry you through the holidays without much damage either. You're back in the healthy mode, and with time to make that a habit again before the holiday season is in full swing, you'll be ready!
I'm still plugging along. Weight loss seems to continue to go at a snail's pace but I'll take it. Even maintenance isn't bad if I look at it that way. I definitely would love to see more pounds come off, but as long as I'm holding where I am it's better than where I was. I looked back at where my "setpoint" seemed to be when I was working and when I found out I was pregnant with each of my kids, and I'm 21 pounds below that, so I figure that's a victory in and of itself. My doctor warned me a couple of weeks ago that the holidays were approaching, but I told him I was ready. I've worked too hard to lose total control. I did tell him that I will indulge in a few treats along the way because I realize this is real life and not just a short-term project, and I need to be happy but that I wasn't going to give up control and gain weight back. So now I need to make sure I actually do that. LOL
I walked on the treadmill and used the elliptical last night for the first time in months, so I'm going to try to go for a walk outside today and start getting back into a movement mode. I know my body will appreciate it in so many ways. :-)
Friday, we went to our Granddaughter's school for their little Thanksgiving celebration. We go to these things a lot of times because her mom is not able to go because of work. There are other grandparents there too, so I guess quite a lot of the moms aren't able to come. Then I went with my son to an appointment. He often times asks me to ride along with him. Gives us a chance to visit and it helps him stay awake when he is tired (a night shift worker).
Yesterday we did the groceries and some other errands. We try to do as much as we can in one outing instead of making lot of little trips out. It makes for a long day.
My eye is hurting this morning. It hurt some yesterday. I worry that because I have diddled around so long ~ mostly not being able to have some self control of my eating ~ that it is finally catching up with me and affecting yet another part of my body.
Gotta get some stuff done today. The rest of next week, we have Maddie (our 7 year old granddaughter) ~ we are her day care when there is no school and every afternoon after school. She keeps us busy.
Happy Thanksgiving Girls! Looking forward to a yummy feast this evening. The trick is going to be not eating a zillion calories in snacks and alcohol before the zillion calorie dinner. We usually would eat earlier but we moved the time to accommodate married DS#1. The silver lining is we have lots of times for meal preparation. The important part is being with the family. We are far away from our extended families (in my case I guess that is a good thing) so it is a rather small gathering but fun just the same.
I have been doing decent weight wise this week although nothing to brag on. My new Y classes are kicking my tushie though. In fact, I think my recent two pound weight loss can be attributed to the new classes. I have been told that your body can get used to the same exercise routine so mixing it up has probably really made a difference. That, and the new instructors are very young. There is no way in the world I could keep up with them, but even with modification, I am working really hard at these fitness routines. I am not sure if I can keep it up though since one knee is truly unhappy these days.
I have also been reading some books to try to inspire better health habits. I just finished one on abstaining from sugar for a year. I was not too fond of it. There was a lot of angst and whining about eating out and finding groceries without sucrose. Just stay home and cook already or don't draw such a hard line-jeez. I just started Total Health by the Wheat Belly guy. His first book really helped me two years ago so maybe this new version will provide the motivation I am seeking. I believe what he is pitching but I cannot see me ever really giving up wheat entirely. I love it so. (I sound like the old me that used to smoke cigarettes.)
Darcy-Sorry for your loss. Good for you for holding down the home front so your husband could be with his family. Kuddos too for holding the line with your weight. There is a lot to be said for maintenance. Unfortunately, I can attest to the difficulty of keeping the good habits for the long haul. That is why I keep coming back here, drilling myself again on the many benefits of healthy lifestyle choices.
Gayle-I hope you are feeling better. Sounds like you are a busy mom and grandma. That has got to be worth a few calories!
I have been away ~ the longest I have been away from home and the longest I have ever been gone from here.
We went on a road trip ~ 24 days. It started out ~ my husband's brother wanted to have a sort of mini family reunion (only one of our kids had ever met his kids ~ I had only met these nieces and nephew once) and he wanted to do it in Asheville, NC and go to the Biltmore Estate ~ he had never been there ~ and thought it would be neat to go at Christmas time when they have it all decorated for Christmas and lighted up special.
My husband figured that since we are retired we could take our time and drive instead of fly. And since we were up that far (from Texas) that we might as well go a little farther and see some more of our family. So we went all the way north to the Buffalo, NY area where DH's aunt and cousins live, and a lot of places in between.
I am so thankful that on our entire trip, we didn't encounter any snow or ice/freezing rain. It was plenty cold and windy sometimes ~ I didn't enjoy that too much.
It was a good trip. We got to see and do a lot of things and see friends and family we hadn't seen in a while.
Just the same, I'm glad to be back home.
I was hoping to get to stay home and get stuff put away and kind of relax a bit, but end up having to go out today. Oh well......
Hi Gayle-Your trip sounds fabulous. That is the way to do retirement. I made it through the holidays relatively unscathed. In fact, I am down a bit. I finished another diet book-The Beck Diet Solution. It was pretty helpful but I have a long way to go yet. I am eating less calories and less sugar in particular but I miss it- a lot. But, as I learned in the Beck book-"oh, well". R u ready for the new year?
We spent the night in your city. I waved to you as we went by We broke up our trip into smaller portions ~ that helped ~ that sciatic pain makes it hard to do long days in the car. So, some places we got to see people we knew. Other places along the way where we didn't have relatives, we tried to see something. In Atlanta we went to the Jimmy Carter Presidential library and found the Atlanta Falcons stadium and took a picture of that for our son. That was one fun thing we did ~ it started when we happened upon the New Orleans Saints stadium while passing through New Orleans. Took a picture of that and sent to our son. He said ~ get pictures of any other ones we happened to see. So, we got the Atlanta one, then the Carolina Panthers one. The Cincinnati Bengals one and the St. Louis Rams one.
Another fun thing we did along the way, our son said we had never been away from home so long, and he requested that we send him a picture every day to prove that we were alive and well. He called our trip the proof of life tour. So, we did as he requested and send him some kind of picture every day of one or the other or both of us and had fun being creative with pictures for him.
I actually did well on this trip with my eating. I had feared that with so much eating out, and holiday treats that I would have weight gain. I used portion control and chose soup and salad a lot of times. I made it through and kind of maintained ~ within a 2-3 pound range. Now to get back to work and get back to losing ~ eating right and exercising.
and 
and 
We broke up our trip into smaller portions ~ that helped ~ that sciatic pain makes it hard to do long days in the car. So, some places we got to see people we knew. Other places along the way where we didn't have relatives, we tried to see something. In Atlanta we went to the Jimmy Carter Presidential library and found the Atlanta Falcons stadium and took a picture of that for our son. That was one fun thing we did ~ it started when we happened upon the New Orleans Saints stadium while passing through New Orleans. Took a picture of that and sent to our son. He said ~ get pictures of any other ones we happened to see. So, we got the Atlanta one, then the Carolina Panthers one. The Cincinnati Bengals one and the St. Louis Rams one. 
