WW Clubs and Groups - Turtle Club #53

Hi, Turtle Buddies,

Here it is - my "official" version of the fable:

The Hare and the Tortoise

A hare met a tortoise one day and made fun of him for the slow and clumsy way in which he walked.

The tortoise laughed and said, "I will run a race with you any time that you choose."

"Very well," replied the hare, "we will start at once."

The tortoise immediately set off in his slow and steady way without waiting a moment or looking back. The hare, on the other hand, treated the matter as a joke and decided to take a little nap before starting, for she thought that it would be an easy matter to overtake her rival.

The tortoise plodded on, and meanwhile the hare overslept herself, with the result that she arrived at the winning-post only to see that the tortoise had got in before her.

Moral: Slow and steady wins the race.

This comes from a book handed down from my grandmother to my mother to me. The book is so old it doesn't have a copyright date or an author/editor's credit.

That fable has been the motivation for us turtles for about two years. Someone on the ancient WW forum mentioned the fable and I discovered it was very motivational for me. I talked about it in posts and other people said that the tortoise philosophy worked for them, too. So, I started a thread for us turtle types.

We work toward accepting that our bodies have a natural speed of weight loss when we choose to live a healthy life, instead of "going on a diet". Many of us have experienced "the diets" as go on/lose weight-- go off/ gain the weight plus more back.

We choose to perservere with each choice we make throughout the day. We believe that choosing to be slow, steady turtles helps us to learn the skills we need to learn in order to not only lose the weight, but keep it off and become the healthiest people we can be.

So, welcome to all who realize that losing and maintaining a weight loss is a lifestyle change. And who want support as we all learn the skills we need to successfully make the changes that will allow us to reach our goals.

Happy turtlin', everyone!

Lin

Hi, Turtles,

Lauren, I'm finding it hard to build that habit of visualizing. I keep forgetting and then needing to remind myself to change the negative images to positive ones. It always takes time to build habits.

We decided to look at apartments in San Jose about once a month or so. We're finding out that the 40-year-old dumps are the same price as the brand new apartments with garages, decent kitchens, and DSL or T-1 lines for the computer. So, we're gathering information so we can create a realistic plan for moving back into a nice place. It may end up that we need to stay here a bit longer because we need our kids to be on their own. Two bedrooms are way out of our price range. But now we can see an end to our time here, which makes it more bearable.

Lauren, try adding 250 mg of magnesium, in addition to the calcium and multi-vitamin. That combination made more of a difference for me than adding calcium alone. But the key to it working is to be really rigid about taking them. That's hard for me, but I'm learing to do it. :)

I remember having the same problem you mentioned when I was at my last job. My boss had trouble keeping me busy, so I finally started writing a story during the down times so I didn't eat. I fooled around with MS Office, too, but there's only so much of that you can fill time with. I discovered that if I read, people think I'm not doing anything, but if I write, they think I'm working. And they never ask what I'm working on. Go figure! :lol:

Erin, I've been doing that "eating whatever I want" off and on for about a month. And trying to figure out what's causing it. Before I talk about that, though, I want to congratulate you on that loss. It's way cool!

I got a clue about my current food issues when I was shopping and didn't buy something because I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the points on it. Then I got a craving for a doughnut, which I love but don't eat because it's so hard to find really good ones. I found a recipe for beignets that are 3 points each, including the oil they're fried in, if I go by the nutrition info in the cookbook. I plan to try them this coming weekend.

Then I realized that I've been slipping into two really bad old habits. One is being lazy and letting "diet thinking" decide what I want to eat instead of recognizing what I want and taking the time to plan to fit it in. So, I've been feeling a little deprived, which makes me rebellious and then I flirt with the idea of giving up.

Another is the "three large meals" a day habit. I don't snack when I eat that way, so I only eat the three meals. I get too hungry between and overeat. That's why mini meals work so well for me. It stops that pattern. I need to plan a little more than I have been lately. That seems to be what's missing. I get stuck in a rut and get bored if I don't make an effort to plan variety into my days.

The other thing I realized recently is that we all complained last winter about being hungrier than usual. And I've noticed it this winter, too. I think we need to change the way we eat in the winter. Those summer salads, stir frys, and light grilled meals don't work in cold weather. I've been out of soup for a few days and haven't been home to make any. I realized that it's exactly what I need. And stews and hearty casseroles.

I've also added a point or two more fat to my days and it's really helped. I think maybe we need that in winter. I also think we should expect our weight loss to slow down when it gets cold and pick up when the weather warms up. It seems to be a natural thing for our bodies to hang onto the fat to keep us warm when it's cold outside.

Erin, over the years I have had those weird speculative conversations people sometimes have about if we had to lose a sense, which one would be the one we couldn't live without. I used to think it was hearing. I'd hate to be without music. Taste/smell is a biggie for me, the cook. You'd think as a writer I'd say vision, but as long as people will read to me and I can use a computer, I can handle that. OTOH, I'd really miss seeing art, especially my son's bizarre, but wonderful stuff. (His exhibit went really well. Someone asked for his autograph and a friend wants to buy his drawing. Such a self-confidence builder, which he needs because he's overly critical of his work. He doesn't see that other people don't see the flaws that loom large in his eyes.)

Reading your post made me realize how precious my imagination is to me. I put myself in your place and realized it would be like pulling out the core of who I am to lose that imagination. I guess I really was born to write, even if no one but me ever reads it. :lol:

OTOH, without that imagination sidetracking me from other stuff, I might get done all that boring, practical stuff I constantly put off doing! :rollleyes: I'm a major procrastinator of housework, paperwork, and that stuff.

You were turned into a different person after your accident. I so admire the way you've learned to handle that. You are an amazing woman. I'm so glad I got to know you through this thread.

I've been back OP this morning. I'm really feeling better about how it's going. I didn't lose my commitment to this journey, just took a brief detour because I had things I needed to work out. I don't get a panicky when that happens. I'm starting to realize that I will probably always have times when I need to figure things out or old issues will crop up again. During those times, I'm happy to maintain, so when I'm ready to move on, I'm not losing the same pounds all over again.

Happy turtlin'! :D

Lin
272/233/225/135 or so

Wow, Lin, meditative post! :)

I think what was happening last weekend, too, was the cropping up of old diet-thinking. I caught it, I managed it this weekend, and I didn't let it get me. For that, I am thankful. I'm putting a lot of effort into NOT being obsessive about this. I noticed one day in class, even, that I was starting to play the numbers game (points, calories, pounds, weeks, etc) and stopped myself. I asked myself why and realized it was because I wasn't understanding the lecture. Unwittingly I started obsessing about something I DID know. So I stopped that, and have been doing all of my reading/homework/studying since, to help that not happen. Of course, the catch is this: what do I think about when the lecture's just boring? :lol:

It's interesting that you would think about what sense you would want to be deprived of, if you had to lose one. My sense of smell was badly damaged (the nerve that "reads" smells threads through the left inner ear, where I had to have surgery to repair impact damage) and along with it my sense of taste. Subtle flavors, like very many spices, I can't taste (because I can't smell them). BUT that does mean that my stinky post-gym DH doesn't bother me ;) and I enjoy strongly flavored foods like sun dried tomatoes and mustards and chilis and such. So life with modified smell and taste is fine. Hearing, because of the damage to my inner ear I was half-deaf until surgery. That was fine, I could deal with that--it meant when I slept against my hearing ear, I slept very very well! :lol: Touch is damaged in one hand (it's very sensitive) and I can deal with that. Really all you have to watch out for is burning yourself, since touch involves feeling temperatures. The sense I've decided I couldn't live without is sight. I just couldn't function. I had some damage there (it's healed) and I wore a patch on one side for a few months, so I had a blind side. I HATED it. People would approach me and I wouldn't know they were there until they were right on me. Others would brush by and assume that I saw them and would get out of their way. I lived in constant fear of being hit by something--I know what "blindsided" really means now! I couldn't ever relax without sight.

Judy and Lauren, how about you? If you had to lose a sense, which one would you choose?

The two senses I would most hate to lose would be vision and hearing. I would have a hard time choosing. Blindness is more incapacitating in terms of daily living. There are a lot of jobs I couldn't do. (I couldn't drive, for one thing.) Grocery shopping, watching a movie, these would be extremely tough and would change dramatically. I would find it very hard not to see the faces of people I love.

But deafness greatly interferes with communicating with people, and I would find that excrutiating. My cousin is profoundly deaf, and her life has been largely solitary. She has done remarkably well -- has always lived independently as an adult, has had good jobs (in libraries), got her master's degree, even traveled in Africa on her own. She is an outstanding lip-reader, and she can speak, although she's not easy to understand. But she misses so much, especially when there are more than two people speaking. She has friends, but they're mostly ones she's made through the internet. When she was younger, she really didn't have many friends. (And she's a great person; it's not that.) While I like my own company in vast quantities, I would really miss the easy communication and camaraderie that hearing gives you.

Hard choice. I've had these hypothetical conversations with people since I was a kid, though they were almost always vision vs. hearing. If I could lose *any* sense, it would be smell. DH has almost no sense of smell anymore, probably due to working with strong chemicals, and he does fine. But if I had to choose between hearing or vision, I don't know what I'd pick.

Now on to food and weight loss and all that junk. BOY, have I been hungry lately. And as of yesterday, I was up 2 pounds. Bleah. I've been over points several days this past week. I'm getting in lots of fiber, eating lots of protein, getting in my fats, drinking my water, etc. It's got to be hormones and stress. But I'm genuinely hungry. Anyway. This too shall pass.

The main thing for me right now is I want to stick with the exercise, no matter what. I can't believe how different I feel now. I don't even have that big mid-afternoon slump anymore, when I work out in the morning. That's a first for me.

Mousie, I greatly admire your attitude toward your life. You mentioned once that your mom helped you with that -- she sounds like quite a lady.

Lin, I'm glad you and DH are pricing apartments and at least moving toward that goal. I hope it works out for you.

As for the "eating anything I want" mode ... I'm not there, but today for the first time in a very long time I was getting stuff at the salad bar at work, and I thought to myself -- "Oh, I'll just load up; I've already had a bad week points-wise, what's one more day?" I haven't thought like that in a long time. Fortunately, I saw the thought for what it was right away and was able to remind myself that it's the LITTLE decisions we make that make the difference. ALL the little decisions. So I made a little decision to take a little less and just start again, no guilt and move on. I'll tell ya, much as I hated gaining back those 16 pounds last year, I sure learned from the experience.

I also think this time of year is just plain hard for some reason. I have traditionally plateaued this time of year, or gained. And here I am again. I'd like to break that pattern, but I suspect I'll only be able to do it with some discomfort and difficulty. Why would this time of year be difficult, do you think?

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/195/189 by April 17

Hi, Turtles,

Erin, your information about losing parts of your senses is really interesting. Obvciously, none of us would really choose to lose one, but the discussion is a good one for helping us to realize just how blessed we really are.

I had an unsuccessful operation to correct my eye muscle coordination when I was a child. I still remember not being able to see anything. Wanting to try to look beneath the bandages just to see some light. I tore up the picture my dad took of me with the bandages on because I hated that memory so much.

Boring lectures are something you just gotta live through. My corollary to Murphy's Law: The more boring the lecture, the more likely the information will turn up on the final exam. :LOL:

Lauren, I still think that winter is hard because it's cold. Exercise helps because it warms us up. But we want to eat more and put on fat because that subcutaneous layer of adipose tissue keeps us warmer.

Great job on reminding yourself about the little decisions that add up to big pounds! I needed to remember that, too.

This morning I realized that there is another thing going on besides what I mentioned yesterday that's making it difficult for me right now. It's the time and energy thing. It takes a lot of energy and time to stay OP. I've been looking for things to cut out of my life to save time and energy so I can do more writing and I seemed to be slowly cutting back on how strictly I was staying OP.

But WW isn't something I want to cut out. So, I'm stopping those little changes right now. What I want to do is to get better organized so I can follow the program without spending so much time on it. I want to plan my meals a little more in advance, just to make sure I fit the foods I want into my life and get enough variety so that I don't get bored. I want to use MasterCook more effectively. It can be a great tool, but initially it takes time to set up the databses.

The other change I want to make is in my exercise program. The videos I have pack in a lot more exercise in less time than my long walks. So, I want to use them more as my main exercise and walk when I have some extra time or need to do errands. When the weather warms up and they start heating the pool, I want to start swimming again. Sometime this year, after I lose more weight, I want to take the circuit training class the apartment management provides to teach people how to use the equipment in the fitness room.

Lauren, you said that after you exercise regularly, you should feel more energetic. How long does it take for that to happen? I would LOVE to get rid of that mid-afternoon slump! But, I've been so tired since I started walking regularly. I don't think I'm pushing myself so hard that I'm exhausting myself. Could it be that I need to push a little harder so I increase my fitness level a bit more?

Hope you all have a great day.

Happy turtlin'! :D

Lin
272/233/225/135 or so

Interesting that you would tear up that picture, Lin. I save a picture or two that we took the first time I was allowed out on the grounds at the rehab hospital. I am obviously "sickly" in that I don't have the robust healthy glow that I am known for exuding and I am wearing my eyepatch, but I keep them as a reminder of how far I have come, and how precious my health is. There are days, though, that it's crushing to see them, so I can totally relate.

Thank you for complimenting my attitude. I think it's really a matter of just not seeing options. What am I going to do, be angry and resentful? Then I'd be miserable and *still* injured, and that would be an all-round waste of energy. I owe my attitude to my mom, of course, gotta love her. (fyi, I actually thanked her the other day for giving me that talking-to. Know what she said? "I said that? Wow. I got something right!" :lol: )

Spinning class in just a few minutes, and then we're going to a "Mardi Gras" celebration downtown for the evening. I've had all my points for the day, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Well, I'll deal with it!

Lin, it's commonly thought that the harder you exercise (To a point, of course, to where your body is capable) the better you will feel afterward. From a physiological standpoint, you are injuring your muscles with use and they are repairing themselves. That repair makes you stronger, and makes you function more efficiently the next time. It also entails the release of "feel good hormones"--adrenalin, endorphins, epinephrine. The harder you work, the more hormones you get. That why you often hear about the runner's high. Their muscles are trashed after long runs, but WOW the amount of hormones they get more than makes up for it! I get giggly after a hard workout (drives DH nuts). Try a video, or try walking a bit faster, in spurts, on your wallks. Pretend you're late for an appointment. Or you're late to write to us! :)

Gotta run, class will start soon! Bye Turtles!

Hi,
I'm here and chiming in for a second. Long busy days have kept me away from the computer, but I long to get back in the swing of things. Dh had a medical scare this month, but he's okay, thank goodness. Of course I ate over it-==after all wouldn't my eating make him well? Egads. Now I am having trouble getting back OP and am letting the least little temptation tempt me.]
I"ll be better and I'm going to read all your posts real soon.
Take care. Seems to be a tough time, but we'll all get through it.
Judy
234/209/199soon:)

Hi, Turtles,

Erin, thanks for the info regarding exercise. I'll try both of your ideas, depending on which kind of exercise I'm doing.

I was a child when I tore up the picture. I couldn't figure out why my dad wanted to save such an awful memory. I can still see the photo in my mind, so it's only the paper that was destroyed.

Judy, it's good to hear from you. I've been wondering how you were doing. I'm glad your dh is OK. You'll get a handle on emotional eating as time passes. It's a hard one to get over. I doubt it ever completely goes away, but you can get it under control enough that it doesn't totally sabotage your efforts.

I've probably been doing some of that emotional eating lately. It's another factor in my recent on and off attitude. I think it's because I'm not dealing well with my brother's situation. I'm also frustrated about being unable to give him and my mom the tiniest bit of help during this difficult time. I'm a doer. A problem-solver. And it drives me crazy to sit at home. I pray a lot. It's the one thing I can do.

Anyway, I'm taking each meal, each day one step at a time. I'm staying OP as much as I can, which is better than I've done in the past when these issues crop up. Today is going OK. I'm commited and doing fine.

Tomorrow I'm cooking a special meal for Valentine's Day. I'm making part of it today. I need to revise one of the recipes and print them out this afternoon. It's a recipe I cooked when we were first married, but the sauce is unecessarily high in fat. I think it uses a whole cube of butter! They didn't worry about that when the cookbook came out in the '70s.
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.

Happy turtlin'! :cool:

Lin
272/233/225/135 or so

Hi, tortoise beings.

I discovered the way to break a small plateau. This morning I finally managed to hit 194, which puts me at 80 pounds down and in the lower 190s. This isn't my official weigh-in, but so what? I'm thrilled.

Here's the secret . . . wait for it . . .

Develop a urinary tract infection.

All those fluids will magically fall off your body, even if it's almost TOM! Sure, there are some drawbacks, like running to the bathroom every 5 minutes and that special "zing" you'll experience once you get there, but these are minor inconveniences in the long run. Get in extra exercise from running down the hall 75 times a day! (Extra benefits if your desk is a 10-minute walk from the nearest powder room. By the time you return to your desk, it'll be time to run down the hall again!) Take it from me, folks; this is a foolproof way to get that extra water off. Watch that scale drop! Feel the burn!

OK, moving right along.

Lin, it took me a long time to get energy from working out. I don't remember exactly how long, but I would guess a good six months. I found that drinking while I worked out helped, but it still took a long time for me to build up enough glycemic storage capacity that I didn't feel depleted and tired. Also, maybe upping your protein a little would help. Eat a few bits of meat before you walk; I hear that helps some folks. I did stop getting hungry within a couple of months of regularly working out, but I didn't get the energy boost for a long time after that. All I can say is, stick with it -- it's so worth it down the road. Today I did my super tough workout (for me), and I feel great. I really panted through it and worked up a good lather, and after the initial "Ugh! Why am I doing this!" period, I found it mildly exhilarating, as Mousie describes. It's good stuff.

Also, stress and depression are tiring. Exercise should eventually help you offset those; studies have shown that depressed people who start exercising regularly show the same improvement over time as depressed people who don't exercise but take anti-depressants. But it takes a while for that to kick in. BTW, you say "All I can do is pray," but God can do infinitely more than we can. Praying is very, very powerful stuff. I've seen its results again and again in my life. (For one thing, I pray every day that God would help me with my eating.) Lean on him and don't worry about what *you* can do. The Bible says we are strongest when we are weakest in ourselves, because then we have to "let go and let God." I'm praying for your brother, too.

I'm looking forward to hearing about your special V-day meal. :)

Judy, YOU ARE WORTH IT. YOU ARE WORTH IT. YOU ARE WORTH IT. Sorry to yell there, but ... you ARE! Stop hurting yourself, even if that's been your default behavior for years, as it has been for each of us. Be GOOD to yourself. Treat that body with the love and respect it deserves! Sometimes overeating feels like nurturing, but it's a big, fat lie. I'm SO glad your DH turned out OK; I know what scares like that are like. But don't turn to your old fake friend -- food -- for comfort. Stop RIGHT now and list all the reasons why you're worth the extra effort We're pulling for you.

Erin, you get giggly after a tough workout?? Wow, I'm not there yet. Looking forward to it, though. How was Mardi Gras?

I'm working from home today so I can be closer to my favorite room in the house. :dz: Better get to it!

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/194/189 by April 17 80 pounds down!

Hi, Turtles,

Lauren, UGH! I'll pass on the UTI method of losing weight. I hope you feel better soon!

I can't thank you enough for your post. It spoke to some issues I've been wrestling with lately. Thanks for the info re: energy levels. Your post and Erin's helped me a lot because I see that what I need is to work a little harder and be patient.

You're right about the power of faith. And of leaning on God. I end my journal entries every day with a prayer. It helps tremendously. Letting go is one of the most difficult things for a lot of people, including me. I'm learning, but it's slow going. Thanks for the reminder.

Your post to Judy is something I needed to hear, too. I've been really wishing I could stop weighing, measuring, and counting points without gaining weight. It feels like it's too much. I want to keep exercising and drinking the water. (Did I say, "exercising"? A year ago, you'd never have heard me say that. A change for the better. :lol: )

But it is a fake, turning to food. It helps me to feel better, temporarily, but then I feel awful because I'm too full and uncomfortable. I need to do two things--discuss my food issues with God throughout the day, instead of just in my morning prayers. Lean on him, as you said, Lauren.

The other is more difficult for me. I don't eat when I read, but I do read when I eat. The difference is that I don't eat every time I read. But mealtimes, when I'm eating alone, have always been a time during my day when I can take a break and do some reading. What I need to do is to eat my food, then take some time to read before I go back to doing the chores, etc. that I'm doing that day.

The reason I read is that, when I'm alone, my mind gets bored with just eating. I have been blessed/cursed with a mind that requires a lot of stimulation. I get bored really easily with routine things that take no mental energy to do, like eating and cleaning. Time seems to drag. But when I'm doing things that involve the brain, like reading, writing, creating anything, cooking, etc. time whizzes by and I'm always surprised that hours have passed.

But I need to pay closer attention to my body's signals right now. To figure out how to really enjoy the process of eating more. That probably surprises you because I'm a cook. But that's a creative process that I love. I don't care as much about eating, except for not eating stuff that I don't like the taste of. But if I don't make that change, I will end up gaining ten pounds. Because right now I'm doing a lot of mindless, emotional eating. Good food, healthy food, and not a ton of it, but more than I need to fuel my body. I want to stop doing that. And being mindful of my food is one way I can make that happen.

Of course, I don't feel like doing any of it because of the stress and depression. It feels like an emotional Catch-22. I'm fine until I'm faced with the decision. Then I seem to make the one that doesn't work. And at the time, I don't care. But I care afterword. So I need to work this out before it gets out of hand.

Anyway, I could use your prayers and good vibes and that stuff. I thank you all for your support. Without you turtle buddies, I'd have gained weight back to my highest instead of staying about the same because of your wise advice and tremendous support.

Happy turtlin'! :D

Lin
272/233/225/135 or so

Lin, I read when I eat, too. We have similar brains in many respects. (Whatta surprise.) But I mostly limit my eating to one place in the house -- the kitchen (or dining room). I find I then have to get OUT of that room as soon as I'm done, or I'll just keep nibbling. That's no doubt harder if your apartment is like ours was, with an "open plan" where the dining room and the living room are pretty much the same room. But if you could make yourself only eat at the dining room table and then get up and move elsewhere, maybe that would help. And you could continue to read while you eat, which I thoroughly enjoy. Just a thought.

--Lauren

LIn,
I'm so glad you started this club. It's invaluable to all of us! I find it interesting how we swing in and out of cycles and sometimes we're all on track and other times some are stronger and others struggling, but the underlying support keeps helping us all out.
Even reading about struggles helps so much because you hear another intelligent person who really wants to do this figuring out what is helpful and what is not.
In the meantime, I'm sending you billions of good vibes and prayers. You have very high expectations of the things you want to change. I give you credit. And you've already changed so many things and done so well with your weight loss.
In a way you experienced what I did with my emotional eating--the sidetrack to what I want to do the most took over and I gained a bit. Luckily I took care of myself this week and knocked off most of what I had gained--so I'm doing okay again. And then I hit the grocery store starving! Bad idea. And my favorites--hot cross buns--were on the shelf. I had two and they point out to 10 points, so I'm counting it in and moving on.

Lauren,
Great weight loss--of course I really am not anxious to follow the urinary track infection route to lose more. I am so impressed with how you're tackling this task of losing weight. Let's talk about emotional eating again when we have a bit more time.

Mousie,
I love to hear about your celebrations and spinning classes, etc.
You are so much fun.

WW this week was about changing the things you've always done to change the end results. Margo wants us to plan what we'll do with challenges. Feeling lonely, bored, tired, etc. Exactly what are you going to do? Fabulous food for thought. Since I had told her about my dh and the emotional eating I had done over the last couple of weeks, she asked if she could share this with the group and it really was a great jumping off point. One gal's ex husband had called after two years and it led her to non-stop candy eating. The members had lots of good ideas like journaling or calling a friend who loves you to get those bad feelings out. Of course I immediately thought of our club here and you turtlers.
Have a great time with all you're doing.
Judy
234/207/199 March 1:dizzy:

Wow, Turtles, I turn my back for one day and I've got five new posts to read! Are we prolific or what? :)

Lauren, WOW! 80 pounds! I am so impressed, you must feel like a million bucks. :) I don't know, though, that I'll take your suggestion for losing more...I know you mean to always be helpful, but um...um...uh, it's rude to get up that many times in lecture. Yeah. :) Thanks anyway though. ;)

Lin, we offer you nothing that you haven't given us a thousand times over. You know you can turn to us because you have always been there to offer a helping hand. I'm so sorry about your brother, and I'm sorry about not being able to live where you'd like. At least you can look ahead and plan, though, and know that your life will get better.

As for not being able to help your brother as much as you like, being there and talking to him is probably what he appreciates most right now. It's a very lonely thing, being sick or hurt, and it probably means a lot to him that you're standing by him.

Judy, good for you for taking care of yourself and following the path that will make you the happiest. I'm so glad to hear that your DH is fine. I can't imagine what a scare like that would do to me--I love my DH more than anything, and even when he's getting home late I worry about crazy California drivers and imagine awful scenes til he comes in the door (can you tell I have car accident issues?). Emotional eating, I think, is primarily what drives us (us in the generic universal sense). IT's a rare person who can honestly say they never turn to food without being physiologically hungry. We can strive for that, but implicit in the fact that we have to TRY to eat that way is the reality that we are not.

Spinning tonight, woo woo! :spin: I'm definitely getting stronger, and I've finally just accepted that I have to take 2 Excedrin before class. I still sit up a lot and ease off my arm--just because I'm drugged and it's not hurting doesn't mean it's okay with the sustained pressure. So I'm careful, but I'm also more comfortable.

As for getting giggly, yeah, usually happens actually. I push myself hard, I *like* that "lay down and melt into the floor to the throb of your heartbeat" feeling. I can feel when I get the first rush of hormones--about 15-20 minutes in, right in my belly. From then on, I can push harder and harder. Getting to that point sometimes requires gritted teeth, but it's always worth the effort. :) Keep in mind, too, that I've been exercising at some level for about 10 years now. The only time I didn't consistently go to the gym was when I was in the hospital--right when I got out and could drive again (at about the 5-months-post point) I got back to my gym and back to my yoga classes. My body understands what's happening when I exercise, and can respond to it. If you haven't exercised in awhile your body kinda "forgets" what's supposed to happen when, and it takes time to convince your body that you're really going to keep exercising, so it might as well un-stick those rusty hormone channels. It WILL happen, trust me. Remember too that your body is designed to survive at all costs, so it's not going to dispense its precious hormones or put any effort into mending creaky channels if you're not going to USE the things in the future.

I have just come in from class, and I'm still sweaty and getting cold. Off to the bath with me, bye Turtles!

Hi, Turtles,

Lauren, that's a great suggestion. I eat at the dining room table. Sometimes, if we're watching a movie while we have dinner, I'll eat at a tray in the living room. My dh has such an early schedule that dinnertime is the best time to turn on a 2-hour flick, so we can't wait until after dinner to watch.

However, the issue isn't really with reading or watching movies, per se. It's with not being distracted from noticing when I'm actually full. I'm working on getting a handle on how much food my body really wants at any one meal. I think it's changing and I need to take some time and pay attention to that. Then, maybe, I'll go back to reading while I'm eating, at least until this comes up again. :rolleyes:

BTW--what I do about the "nibbling" is to keep all of the food in the kitchen. I serve dinner from the pots. If anyone wants more, they gotta go into the kitchen to get it. That gives me a chance to really make sure that I need that extra food before I put it on my plate and "nibble". The best part is that I don't have to wash extra serving dishes! :lol:

Judy, your post was really helpful. I liked the assessment of how this group has done through time. It helps to put our journey in persepective because it shows that even though we have times of struggle, we do get past them and move on.

Since I don't go to meetings, I appreciate your reports about what you discussed. They help remind me of various aspects of this journey that I sometimes forget. Thanks!

I'm glad to hear that you're taking care of yourself and moving past those hot cross buns. It's not the one time you eat hot cross buns that causes the weight problem. It's doing it daily. You're learning, along with the rest of us, how often you can choose those foods and still lose weight and have a healthy body.

Erin, I wish I'd kept up the exercises I loved when I was your age. I might still be overweight, but exercise would be a lot more fun! You're a real inspiration and your comments give me hope that I can get back to that level of fitness I used to have, and maybe even improve on it.

Thank you all for your friendship and support. I'm back OP today. Feeling a lot better about my life. Thanks!

Lauren, you asked about my Valentine's dinner. I'm actually cooking it tonight because the darn game hens were still frozen yesterday when it was time to cook them! Anyway, here's the menu:

!/2 cup cold creamy tomato soup - 1-2 points (I have to measure the completed soup and see how many cups it makes before I can accurately calculate the points.)
Caesar Salad - 2 points
1 Cream Biscuit w/ Roasted Onions - 2 point
1/2 game hen (no skin) in cherry sauce - 5 points
1 serving Mushrooms Sauted in red wine - 0 points
1 serving Satueed vegetables (sauteed in a bit of oil spray and broth) - 0 points
3/8 cup Creamy Lemon Pilaf - 3

Total of 13-14 points (depending on the soup), which is a few more than I usually eat for dinner. But since I start counting with dinner, I adjust the next day's meals so I'm using the remaining points.

The big point issue is dessert! I'm making a variation of that chocolate cake recipe. Instead of cutting the layers into 4 and using all of that filling and frosting (which adds up to a whopping 20 points for 1/16 of the cake!!), I'm leaving it in two layers and using 1/4 of the frosting and filling, which cuts the points in half, to 10 points, and I can use banked points to cover that serving.

I haven't had time to work on reducing the points more, but this variation keeps the richness of the origianl, without costing almost a whole day's points in one small piece. But you wouldn't want to eat more than that at one time because it is so rich. Anyway, I want to try to make some changes to reduce the points more, but it's hard with cakes and will take a lot of tests to get it right.

Anyway, I'm feeling really good about my plan and how things are going. I'm taking this one meal at a time. It's all I can do. And it will be enough.

Happy turtlin'! :D

Lin
272/233/225/135 or so

Okay, Turtles. Today was SUPPOSEDLY to be my weigh in/meeting day, but I managed to sleep in and miss both of the meetings this morning. I usually go to a 7:30 meeting, but I woke up after the 9:30 meeting! Oops. Better set my alarm next week, i guess. I didn't think I needed it because I very, very rarely sleep late (past 7:00 is late for me) but I guess I needed it this morning.

Anyway, I have my goals for this week (I'm going to strive for an average of 30 points/day and my 4 Spinning classes) and I have a really sweet incentive to actually stick to that (I've told myself that i can go buy Voyager, by Diana Gabaldon. It's the third in a wonderful series I'm reading). So I'm all set for the week.

DH has a three day weekend, but I have classes on monday. So, we're hanging out here for the weekend. I'm trying to get up the energy to go to the grocery store and to vacuum (not necessarily in that order). I HATE vacuuming, it's the chore I just can't stand, but I think it's come to a point where I just have to do it. SIGH. Oh well, such are the trials of life.

Have a good day, Turtles, I'll see you later!

Hi, tortoise ones.

Erin, that's interesting what you said about having trained your body for 10 years and now getting that rush of endorphins when you push yourself. I think I have a mild version of that. After I've been working out for 20 minutes or so, I feel like I could just keep going forever. (This is relatively new, by the way.) Those first 20 minutes are a royal pain some days, but then it gets much easier. I don't have the big rush yet, though. I just basically feel more energetic after those first 20 minutes. I found it encouraging to read your post, because I feel like if I just stick with this, it'll only get better. That's great and another reason to keep at it.

Judy, good for you, writing down the buns and talking about the emotional eating with your class. Your class sounds terrific. I'll bet they appreciated you bringing up the subject.

Lin, your dinner sounds FABULOUS. How was it? (And if it's today, what time should we show up? :) ) It's funny that you had game hen. I think that's what I had at our fabulous dinner last night. I had something called guinea hen. I don't know what that is, but it was mighty tasty. It was a bit tougher than a domestic chicken, but the flavor was outstanding.

Let's see ... my meal started with scallops that had been roasted and just melted in my mouth. Best scallops I've ever had. They were nestled in a puddle of a very light, fresh cream sauce with diced red peppers and, I think, cucumbers. The cream sauce was underneath them, so I didn't have to eat much of it (and I didn't, though it sure was good). Then I had their mixed greens, which had dried cranberries and seeds and a mild white cheese and other stuff, in an amazing dressing -- it tasted of carmelized onions. DH had the pear salad -- pears poached in cloves and other spices, and mixed with the freshest gorgonzola cheese imaginable.

Dinner for me was the guinea hen, which was lightly sauteed in ... hmmm ... I tasted thyme, onions, and I think rosemary, and then it was baked with homemade noodles (out of this world; I've never had better), diced rutabegas, other veggies, and an incredible fois gras in a poultry reduction. The fois gras did me in, I think. It tasted lightly roasted, and it just melted in your mouth -- but I can't even guess what the points were. It was about the size of a mushroom cap. (That's what I thought it was at first.) (DH had salmon dusted with fennel flour with a bunch of other stuff -- amazing.)

Dessert was a sampler for me -- including stuff like mousse, a frozen cappuccino thing with creme fraiche, fresh mango in a mild soft cheese I don't recall the name of, and a little creme brulee with blueberries and cinnamon. I love their dessert samplers; each item is about two bites. Perfect.

We had a merlot with the whole thing. The price was obscene, but it sure was fun. I also had serious indigestion afterward and this morning. My body just isn't used to all that rich food! I still haven't tried to figure out the points. The portion sizes were small, as they often are in restaurants like this, but I was still stuffed afterward. Not that I didn't practically lick my plate!

Anyway, enough talk about food. I'm eating light today, as you can imagine.

Oh, I did my pilates tape yesterday, and I was able to do the whole thing for the first time! Must be the ab crunches I've been doing with the Paula Abdul workout. My stomach and fronts of my thighs are very sore today, though. Funny; I didn't feel like I'd done that much. Interesting workout, pilates.

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/194/189 by April 17 80 pounds down!

Lauren, if you keep exercising you'll get bigger and bigger rushes of hormones, I promise. You've heard of a runner's high, right? Have you ever heard of a walker's high? Not likely. As your intensity increases, you'll get more hormones. They're FUN! Just ask DH. ;)

Pilates is an amazing exercise program, I really wish I could find a private studio around here that I could work into my schedule. The best thing about it, in my opinion, is that any exercise can be modified. Pilates was actually a doctor in the post-WWI era. He was trying to figure out how to help bedridden soldiers and patients exercise to keep up their strength and go back to at least semi-productive lives. Because they were bedridden and often injured, any exercise can be modified as necessary. In Pilates' mind, the most important part of the body is your "core"--the muscles of the chest, torso, and back. These muscles shelter and support your vital organs. Pilates figured out methods of isometric work (body weight work, basically) to strengthen and challenge these muscle groups without the patient having to get out of bed. Now, his methods have been modified over the years to include machines, some standing exercises, and some props like bands and rings and things, but the philosophy is essentially the same. Keep up with the Pilates work, and I bet you'll notice a difference in the condition of your torso and abs and in your posture in about a month. There's also been reports of it helping with breathing and with digestion. Amazing program.

Lauren, I swear, where on earth did you go? Your meal sounds amazing--and I don't even eat meat! And Lin, DH would probably marry me all over again if I made a meal like that for him. Not likely--I refuse to handle raw meat--but the boy can dream, right? ;)

I've had vegetarian "chicken" pieces for breakfast (protein) and just finished a huge salad for lunch. I bought myself an on-sale Valentine's box of chocolates, but I've had 3 and put the box away. I WANT that book!

Hi, Turtles,

Time to start #54. See you all there!

Lin