Living Maintenance - Maintainers Chat: September 28 - October 4

Happy last few days of September! It's supposed to get cooler here this week and I can't wait because I love fall.

I visited friends in North Carolina for a long weekend and just got home last night. It was one of those deals where I closed my eyes to go to sleep and all I saw was interstate. Ugh! The good news is that I lost .6 pounds, which means I maintained. And that's what it's all about. :)

My big challenge is that I'll be working every day, including Saturdays and Sundays, for the next two weeks or so. I still tend to turn to food as a "poor me" reward so really have to watch out for that kind of bad thinking. And planning and cooking meals in advance will be key. It's definitely soup and chili weather so I'll have to make some big pots. :T

How was everyone's weekend? :)

I gained two lbs. last week. Mourning the pets with chocolate chip cookies and chocolate bars.

I'm really hoping the hypnosis thing works for me. I have 3FC for support and I think that's great but there are times when I'm not able to access the group.

I need to be able to do something that works to stop the emo eating. I'm booked for hypnosis Oct. 15. Will try to maintain until then.

I also have a reunion of sorts coming up on Oct. 22 so that's incentive to get back under 135, maybe even close to 130. People from high school organized an event via Facebook at a local tavern we all used to frequent in our student days.

I didn't attend the prom or anything back in my graduation days (didn't attend either college graduation either) and haven't kept up with anyone because I really didn't have many friends.

I guess this is a chance at reconnecting and I'm going to try. Everything to gain, right?

As for DH I just can't deal with whatever he's doing and my own stuff. He is busy with all of his projects and I'm not any kind of priority in his life so I'm going to attend to my own stuff for a while.

Have a great week all!

Dagmar :tired:

Good Monday morning. :yawn: I had an OP week-end and I am headed to the gym as soon as the kids get on the bus. I hope to be back into my regularly scheduled routine this week.

Dagmar :hug: Seems like you are in a difficult spot for now. Just keep on hanging in there! Even if you cannot access the group at all times, we are thinking of you. And good for you to take some action to get to grips with the current situation, Who knows, the highschool reunion could be loads of fun!
:hug:

Rabbit

Meg, working every day, yuck! IMO it's bad enough to work 5 days a week! ;)

Dagmar - :hug: Sorry to hear you're in a tough spot. I hope the hypnosis helps. Have fun at the reunion!

Hi Ward and Rabbit! Ward, did you get flooded?

I'm hungry. :p Today is Yom Kippur, and while I'm observant enough to not eat, I'm not observant enough to take the day off work and go to services. I ate a lot for dinner yesterday hoping that it would help me make it through the fast better, but it's only 8:30 and I'm already starving! :lol:

Tomorrow afternoon I'm off to Tucson for this conference. I hope it will be valuable. It will be nice to get away from my desk at work for a while because we're in a lull right now and I don't have much to do.

Good morning!

Meg, you have to work every day? Hopefully not 8 hours a day. Know what you mean about the "poor me" food reward.

Dagmar, the older you get, the more the reunions are fun, IMHO. It's been a lot of fun for me to catch up with people from high school via Facebook. Hope the hypnosis helps--will be interested in hearing about that. I'm sorry about the stuff with DH--it's tough being in a relationship by yourself.

WardHog, have a good workout!

Jessica, do you have to fast all day? It's been a long time since I worked at the synagogue so I remember almost nothing except the thing about turning pockets inside out. I think that was associated with the high holy days in some manner?? Hope your conference goes well.

I made it through my DGD's birthday yesterday with not too much damage. I had the florist make a cupcake of flowers with a candle in it, which we put on her grave early in the morning. My son had put balloons on, which aren't allowed but what the heck. I guess my ex-DIL put a real cake on the grave. It might be a cultural thing, but all I could think about when my son told me this was that it would attract rats, mice and all sorts of hungry critters to her grave.

This week I will get back to the gym. Working in the yard is pretty aerobic, but I've got to get back into my routine before I get too flabby.

Have a good Monday!

Happy Monday!

Meg, power to you in you intense work schedule! Great idea on all the cooking ahead. Chili sounds great even though it's still about 100 degrees here - but then I am in the southwest so chili is a year-round thing for sure!

Dagmar, I hope you enjoy your reunion! Sorry to hear about your current DH situation, but you are right to keep taking care of yourself - sometimes that's all you can do. I hope the hypnosis helps you.

Jessica, oddly enough when I eat a big dinner I tend to get hungry earlier the next day...

I'm frustrated that the scale was back up this morning - 131.5. I didn't eat THAT much this weekend! Back to the grind...

Dagmar~I'll be interested to hear how the hypnotism works for you.

Sheila~hugs to you on such a difficult day

I'm starting out the week on a good note. My weight did not do the typical 1-2 pound upward bounce over the weekend. Perhaps I'll be lucky and actually drop a pound this week.

My DH is flying to Yakima on Thursday to measure for the job we got up there. Meanwhile I still have a lot of paperwork to complete in order to get in line for business up there. Time for work.

Sheila, :hug:.

Good morning!

We are having a sad time at my office - the new accountant I hired a few months ago had to put her mom into hospice a couple of weeks ago, left work abruptly on 9/17 because she got a call from the hospice center that the end could come at any time. Terrible situation, her mom has been sick for a while and has been in and out of the hospital. Then, to make it worse for her, her house flooded in the rains last week - the finished basement if totally flooded, there is some damage to the main floor of the house, and her flood insurance company is telling her that er coverage is 'limited' for some reason. I just found out this morning that her mom passed away last night. Either of these situations would be overwhelming on there own and she is in the midst of both at once. It is so sad.

Sheila - :hug: to you and your family. The flower cupcake was a beautiful idea.

Dagmar - :hug: to you, too. I'm sorry that things are hard for you right now. I have a friend who did the hypnosis and it did give her some time to reset some of her habits. I hope it helps you, too.

Ward - I'm hoping to be back to normal this week, too! Did you guys flood where you are?

Meg - two weeks with no days off sounds tough. Cooking in advance should help. You can do it! :)

Iris - did you eat more sodium this weekend? I know for me I was in line calorie wise all weekend but had a salt fest yesterday, so I moved up a little too.

Allison - Yay on the scale this morning! :)

I kept my eating in line the later part of last week, but I know I had some salty foods over the weekend so today is all water, water, water. We had DSS this weekend, and while we aren't going out to eat all the time like we used to when he was over we find ourselves eating spaghetti, cheese pizza, high sodium stuff.

Good day everyone!

:hug: Sheila.

Sheila, the fast is from sundown to sundown, so it is a full 24 hours. You're not supposed to have any food or water during that time (you're also not supposed to do any work, and you're supposed to go to services pretty much all day). I'm not very observant so we just do no food, but we still go to work, drink water, and don't go to services. Of course DH accidentally ate something this morning (he was pulling out a veggie plant and plucked a mini-cucumber off of it and ate it without thinking). Oh well, it's the though that counts, right? I agree that the flower cupcake is a lovely memorial. :hug:

Shannon, I'm sorry to hear about your accountant's mom. I hope she can work things out with the insurance company.

It is 2:40 and I have already had my lunch, my morning string cheese I rescheduled until afternoon and my trail mix. 2.5 more hours of work and only one snack left. I'm about to make some Hot Cinnamon Green tea I just got and see if that helps. Seriously hungry today. I'm noticing I'm often hungry on Monday - wondering if it is from eating less protein and more carby stuff on the weekends... Hmm..

Morning! Busy weekend, so-so eating. And dang, it's COLD here. 30F :brr:

I ended up feeling lousy yesterday and never got to exercise, so I've rearranged this week's schedule so I can get everything in and move the rest day to when I need it to be. :lol: I've pretty much got it to where I don't need more than one early morning workout. Now that it's dark and cold, I'm less inclined to be out of my warm bed at 5:15 am.

Shannon, I know without a doubt I get munchier after certain carbs. It's like this:

Imagine that our digestive system is like one of those belts at the grocery store that move groceries so they can get checked out (I'm sure it has a name, I'm sleep deprived from work so bear with me!). ETA: Conveyor belt!

Ok, now imagine that there are workers standing on either side of the belt picking through the nutrients as they move across the belt. Kind of like Jawas in Star Wars.

They pick through the nutrients looking for treasure and they let junk go by.

They are impatient little Jawas. When we eat white flour, junk food of any type, packaged foods, fruit rollups, froot loops, etc., the little Jawas are looking for treasures, but can't find any. It's just junk, junk, junk!!! They get really irrtitated and shout out in their Jawa language to the Jawa foreman that they need MORE nutrients to look through for treasure. The Jawa foreman speeds up the belt. As the belt moves faster and faster, the Jawa desperately dig through, searching, searching, flinging junk all over the place, looking for treasure. Because the belt is running so fast, more nutrients are DEMANDED, so we feel like we need to eat more and more and more.

I'm convinced that 90% of my overeating problem was due to the urge to eat more because I was feeding my body poorly and it was desperately searching for treasure among the junk and demanding more and more to glean a little treasure here and there.

When I eat right, I'm satisfied. My body is also very efficient and uses nutrients well, but the belt moves along at a good pace for the Jawas to gather the treasures, instead of blasting the belt at 100 miles per hour out of desperation for something useful.

Clearly I need more sleep!

Midwife, I LOVE your analogy! It makes so much sense. If your body isn't getting enough nutrients, it makes you want to eat more. It sounds so obvious! Why did it never occur to me?

Midwife - Love that analogy! :)

lol midwife!!!

:lol: I'm glad my feverish thoughts make sense to others!

My little Jawas had quite a lot of treasure yesterday and I wasn't nearly as hungry today as usual. I also did not drink anything with artificial sweetener today and that seems to have made a big difference. I'm not eating holes in the drywall wating for dinner to be ready (my usual state at 6 p.m.)

Sheila - :hug:

I looked at my morning post and boy, was I mad at DH! Didn't realize it at the time. I always feel so much better after a day outside with all the dogs. They are all so cheerful and full of fun (even the old creaky ones).

Have a good evening all (and feed those Jawas some treasure!).

Dagmar :cool:

midwife - Your Jawas analog is dynamite; I'll think of it whenever I'm tempted to put some junk down my conveyor belt. All my little Jawas getting hyper looking for nutrients.

Sign me up for an early copy of your maintenance health book when it comes out, Feeding Your Inner Jawas, LOL.

I love the analogy midwife! I stuffed a bunch of junk through my system today - was hot, tired, hungry, and stressed... now I just have gas!

Hugs to you Sheila.

Hello to everyone else. Mondays are one of my busiest days. I like to check in here but I never have time for much of a post until later in the week.

Jessica-- you and I are similar. We went to temple last night but I didn't take off from work. I am starving and waiting for the sun to go down. I wanted to go to the gym after dinner but I think it will be too much today.....

:rofl: about the Jawas. It totally makes sense! I had some really overactive Jawas over the weekend... once again I followed my usual pattern of getting POP for 2-3 weeks, and just as I start to make headway I go off on a several day binge. It is SO frustrating to me that I can't break out of this cycle. I'm not trying to make light of it, but I'm going to hop back OP and also try to look at my "plan" and see what I can change to keep it from happening again.

Sign me up to buy Feeding Your Inner Jawas. Will there be a chapter on how to quickly quell a Jawa revolt?

BF got a letter from the insurance company yesterday that his house is "uninsureable" and they're yanking his homeowner's insurance. This was the "last chance" insurance company in Florida so it's unlikely he can get anyone else to insure the house if he can't fight this successfully. His boat motor has been having big problems, his truck isn't running right, money is tight, the anniversary of his good friend's death is coming up... September-October is not shaping up to be a good time for him. I wish there was something I could do to help him.

Pat, I hope you get all your workouts in and don't have to schedule any more early ones. I don't like getting up before daylight in Florida, can't imagine how it would be in Alaska! I can't remember if I ever got to comment on your trip, but I'm glad you had such a nice time.

Shannon, sorry to hear about the rough times your accountant is going through. Having to deal with all of that at once is doubly hard.

Jessica and Michele (and anyone else out there celebrating Yom Kippur), I hope you have good holidays.

I fed my little Jawas a little better yesterday, so hopefully won't be so snacky today. Though of course I started the morning absolutely craving chocolate milk so drank some of the whole milk/nonfat milk/cream/chocolate concoction that we sell here, which is amazing, but terrible for you.I only drank four ounces of it and poured the rest out to remove the temptation. :)

Dagmar - sounds like you were feeling a little better last night, I'm glad! :)

Megan - what happens if you can't get homeowner's insurance?

Pat - I would have a hard time getting up that early up there, too! I have so far been failing miserably at trying to do it here, too! :(

I hope that Yom Kippur went well for everyone celebrating!

Good day everyone.

dagmar, haven't had any experience with hypnosis, hope it works for you. let us know how it goes.

Megan~wow, an uninsurable house? That's got to be horrible (besides the other problems). I knew someone (I think from this site) who lived in Florida and due to the location of her place, her insurance rates went up like 8 or 10 times the norm because she'd been hit by two hurricanes. And they think the health insurance industry needs an overhaul. It's sad.

I had another POP day yesterday (only fed the good Jawas) and the scale remains the same. I'm thinking I need to stir things up a bit, but I don't have any idea what to try.

I need some ideas for a sauce for gnocchi. Anyone?

Allison, I need to stir things up too. My scale is either not moving or bouncing a teeny but UP. *sigh* I can't blame it on water retention forever but I'm still hoping.

I LOVE gnocchi - usually try to avoid it because like all starchy things I can't stick to a reasonable portion. A simple tomato sauce is always great with it, although I've seen recipes for more interesting things as well. At a restaurant once I had it with a tomato basil cream sauce (so clearly not healthy by any means!) and peas. The peas were a strange addition... but not bad! Mmmm... this is making me think a gnocchi "gnight" is in order soon!

On the topic of recipe suggestions, I got a big bag of chile peppers yesterday that a friend grew... I know lots of things I could make with one or two, but what do I do with a whole bag full? I generally am just cooking for myself!

Megan, sorry to hear about everything your BF is facing right now... it's hard when there's nothing you can really do, but I'm sure he appreciates just having you there.

Iris - can you roast them? They'll keep in the fridge quite awhile that way?

My workout last night was actually good once I dragged my Jawas there (they much prefer being couch potatoes!). I have everything ready to go and do some cardio tonight - most likely HIIT on the elliptical. It is the least boring and makes the time pass more quickly. :)

My Jawas were well fed yesterday and yet I'm sitting here craving some abosolute junk cookies. There are none here thank goodness. BUt fruit and/or cottage cheese just isn't appealing. grrr.

And having finished my first budget run-through, I have to see where I can cut, and I have 2 employee evaluations to do this week. Not shaping up to be fun! At least I have next week to look forward to. It's the annual Public Library Directors' meeting, and it's held at a ski resort about 2 hours south of me, in a resort hotel (less expensively since it's not ski season yet) for 3 days. Lots of meetings, but a lovely room to be pampered in, plus a pool and workout room, not to mention my director friends. This is a gathering of the directors of the largest public libraries, about 20 of us, so we're pretty close even if most of the time it's by phone or email. Since I plan on retiring in the spring, this will be my last meeting (though we'll all be together at the state conference in March), so it'll be bittersweet....

Pat-- do you have plans for after retirement?

Megan-- sorry your boyfriend is having issues. When we bought our current house, we called USAA for insurance and they wouldn't insure us due to earthquake risk. They said they will only take on so many policies in our area and to check back periodically. We checked back a couple of times and the answer was still no. Yesterday dh called to add my new car to the insurance and they said yes so we will probably be switching.

I didn't work out last night due to my fasting (at least that was the excuse). I ate late and didn't feel up to the gym afterwards. I usually only take Tuesdays off from working out as I work both jobs today and get home very late, but now I'll be two days in a row. At least the scale was happy this morning but considering I only ate dinner (and a couple more snacks after!), I'm not surprised. I'm sure it will go back up once I eat normally.

Michele

And again, I can't stop eating! I got a half wrap and soup for lunch, which was higher calorie than I planned for lunch, I had already had that chocolate milk splurge this morning, I've now had a serving of kashi go lean, 14 grams of trail mix and 10 grams of caramel popcorn in addition to my normal planned snacks for this point. At least I'm still weighing and measuring my crazy... I'll still come in fine for the day as long as I stop right now and stay strictly to what I've planned for the rest of the day. I just made some hot cinnamon tea w/ stevia, going to drink that and see if it stops the snacking. Any virtual frying pans over the head are welcome. :)

Michele - after I sleep late for a week you mean? :lol: I have several trips I'd like to take, I have lots of home projects I've been "saving," and things like that. I have no plans at this point to take any kind of PT job, though I might do some volunteer stuff. Most of my friends are already retired or about to be, so I won't lack for company.

Shannon - can't help with the frying pan, but perhaps this will do :rollpin: I'm having the same issue - I bought 2 bite chocolate Halloween cupcakes for my staff, and am tryin to resist them. Plus I ate my snack about 9 am! Now that I've had lunch maybe I can do better....

Anyone remember Tiny Tim? Am I sooo old?

Anyway; I'm posting about temptations and impulse buys. Our local grocery store had large fairly good quality chocolate bars on sale (4 for $5 instead of $2.49 ea.) so I immediately bought 4. SALE!!! WOW!!!

How dumb was that? They are now calling to me from inside my filing cabinet (the snack stash away from DH's chubby hands) and I can't just throw them away because . . .

SALE!!! WOW!!! AIIIEEEE!!!

Anyone else do similar things or am I really that ridiculous?

Dagmar (back off, evil chocolate bars, waaay baaaack :p)

How about wrapping them tightly in plastic/tin foil and putting in the freezer - a much less easy place to get at for me anyway....

Dagmar:

The buy is good, you just have to find a way to portion them out.

How about freezing individual squares? and portioning them in baggies to last for a certain time?

:o Duuuhhh??? Thanks! Never thought of that but it should work really well.

How is chocolate when it's thawed? Relatively same texture and appearance? (Can you tell I don't use the freezer much?)

Dagmar (chocolate free for now) :cool:

Dagmar, thawed chocolate is just like the fresh stuff IMO.
The only possible effect that you can have is that the chocolate gets a whitish surface appearance because of cocoabutter separating out. This is no problem, you can eat it just the same and the texture and flavor stay the same

Just a flyby to say hello and ask if it's a bad sign when I have to lay on my bed to zip up my jeans (it's turned cold)? Sadly, I do know the answer to that question already. :(

Hi everyone,

It is finally fall here and I am so thrilled! The first front came through and the temperature dropped 10 degrees during the day and 15 at night, and it's quite enjoyable to be outside. A bunch of friends have a big group camping trip planned this weekend and the weather will be perfect!

I ate dinner last night and wanted to go back for toast... wasn't hungry, just wanted it. Anyway I happened to change into my PJ's first and caught a glimpse of my belly hanging out of my underwear in the full length mirror. I had decaf tea, plain, instead. I'm going to have to remember that trick. There's definitely something to Meg's idea of eating snacks naked in front of the mirror! (Not that I doubted Meg for a second!) Anyway my Jawas were pretty well fed yesterday and are on track so far today, too.

Sheila, it'll be ok. Now you know the jeans are tight (just like mine)... let's get moving! :running:

Dagmar, yup, you can definitely freeze the chocolate as everyone else has said! I do that too with sale items. I try to remember that it's not a caloric bargain...am not always successful remembering this.

Shannon, :drill::club::frypan::kickbutt: step away from the sugary things! Sounds like your sweet tooth is in full blast right now. How about hot (plain) tea or chewing gum?

Pat, I know anything involving budget right now is not fun but at least you have your conference to look forward to. That sounds great!

Michele, I think USAA stopped writing policies in Florida. I know they won't give me renters insurance here (and I'm a long-time member of the bank). A lot of companies have stopped writing policies in Florida, a lot of remaining companies raised rates something astronomical like hundreds of percents over the last few years. Several friends whose houses were in really good shape had their companies try to drop them for supposed infractions (e.g. too many tree limbs around the house) and they were able to fight successfully - companies just looking for an excuse to drop people in a hurricane area. BF's house is admittedly not in the best shape, and has some structural issues that existed when he bought it. Sort of sticky - he bought it from friends, and for that reason alone won't walk away from it (I think he should, frankly - he's too nice for his own good). He talked to the insurance agent yesterday and actually at this point is pretty hopeless. He had a really crummy day again yesterday, trying unsuccessfully to repair his boat & truck. Ok, didn't mean to go off, I'm just mad on his behalf. I wish they'd told him that instead of taking his money (and he never made a single claim) for 3 years, then dropping him.

On that note...lol... have a great day everyone! No really. It's the "hump day" and then we're on the downswing to the weekend.

http://s7.landsend.com/is/image/LandsEnd/314318_A508_FF_ZTU?op_sharpen=1&rgn=0,0,2000,3000&scl=7.462686567164179&id=1SYChTPiDkDzAhUaA9HxuY
Land's End Jacket (http://www.landsend.com/pp/BoiledWoolJacket~196132_59.html?bcc=y&action=order_more&sku_0=::ZTU&CM_MERCH=IDX_00008&origin=index)

Help! I love the above jacket from Lands End. Here is the question I have - according to the size chart I need an 8 for my bust line. Everything else I wear is a 2-4. Will the 8 be way too big everywhere else?

Megan - the weather is great here, too! Sunny outside my window, 67 degrees. A nice 53 when I came in. Not too cold, but enough that I get to bring out my cute socks again. And that is totally annoying about BF's house. Sorry he is going through all that!

Dagmar - you can totally freeze the chocolate with no ill effects. Heating and reforming is what messes it up, freezing doesn't do anything that I've noticed. Though, I would still likely eat it frozen... :eek:

Sheila - Oh no! Sorry about the jeans!

I did better the rest of the day yesterday with the snacking. I didn't eat anything else at work, tweaked dinner a little so I got more protein, then my evening snack was some lf vanilla yogurt I put in the freezer to make a little thicker mixed with crushed up Annie's Graham Friends (chocolate, vanilla, chocolate chip), little light chocolate syrup and some fat free redi whip. Stopped the ice cream craving cold and was only 175 calories. Woo hoo!

DH & DSS are both at home today with stomach issues - I'm hoping to avoid them. Found out today that three kinds in the aftercare group at daycare have strep. I don't have time for strep, let me tell you.

Good day everyone!

Shannon - love the coat and the color. Good thing they don't have my size! Why not try the 6 as a compromise. You aren't likely to have too much heavy under it as compared to us northern dwellers. :)

I skipped my cardio last night. I simply ran out of energy at the end of the day. In fact was tired all day. I also started feeling real achy. So I made dinner (excellent Thai soup), watched the National Parks program on PBS, and went to bed at 9. I feel some better this morning, but my eyes are starting to burn and a have a little nuisance feeling in my throat and I keep getting hot. I don't have a fever or any congestion, so I'm doing all my "stay away germs" measures - lots of hot tea, rest, yada yada. I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO BE SICK!

Megan - you don't know how much I'm looking forward to this conference! :) I'll pick up 3 other directors who are flying in Wed and we'll head out to the hotel. We always all have dinner together that first night, and just catch up as very few of us see each other in person during the year. I also have a couple of movies lined up to see in my room (on my laptop, but who cares - I can do that lying in bed... ) as well as some nice walking on the trails there. Oh, and yah, attending the meetings. The food is good as we're only a small group conference-wise and we get a lot of input into what they serve. Dinner is on our own in any case.

Whoops, Sheila. Tight jeans are a good warning sign.

Okay, back to work. :wave: Happy Wednesday.

Shannon-- that sounds like a yummy dessert!!

Does Lands End do free returns? I've ordered from Zappos and gotten several pairs of shoes knowing I would only keep the ones I liked best and sent the rest back.

Michele - I bet that they do. Should check that out. Hey, did you hear that Amazon bought Zappos? Is that real or did I imagine reading it somewhere?

Shannon-- that sounds like a yummy dessert!!

Does Lands End do free returns? I've ordered from Zappos and gotten several pairs of shoes knowing I would only keep the ones I liked best and sent the rest back.

Shannon, if you have a Sears near you, you can return your unwanted purchases there :) BTW, love love love the red jacket :D

Dagmar~Tiptoe Through the Tulips!!

Shannon~very cute coat, but I have no idea on sizes. Can you go to Sears and try one on? The Sears here sells Lands End.

My gnocchi sauce was wonderful! I took a recipe from Epicurious and really changed it around. I'll post it in the recipes section.

Allison & Kitty- I forgot Sears! They have one in the mall right next to my office. Thanks guys!

Shannon, Love the red coat. I think Lands End runs large though so I'd go with a 4.

Pam

My jawas are not happy... the candy corn last night wasn't appeasing and I'm HUNGRY this afternoon!

My jawas are not happy... the candy corn last night wasn't appeasing and I'm HUNGRY this afternoon!

My Jawas got a lot of junk last night. I came home, inhaled some healthy leftovers, and ran to class.

Class was tedious and boring beyond belief. I'm taking this as an interest course and the teacher is just a (in DH's words) bum!

Came home and ate a bunch of junk out of frustration (as DG was in his space drumming, where he has been since Sunday, and I couldn't talk to him). Also a frustrating day with the new "gorilla"dog - he's going to be physically punishing me for some time.

BTW brown wax chocolate is as bad frozen as fresh.

It's Oct. 1 so new day, new resolve. Threw the other 2 bars in the garbage this morning and threw some stinky organic leftovers on top of them.

One step forward, one step back. I'm getting too good at walking backward - time to move forward only for awhile.

Have a great day all

Dagmar :drill:

Dagmar, the trash is the best place for it to go. Better than on the butt! I did the same thing last night -- threw away perfectly good chocolate. I kid myself that I can portion control it, but I can't. So out the door it went.

I love a new month too! In thinking about goals, I'd like to lose a few pounds this month and then stay the same through the holidays. So I need to think strategy. Last year I gained over the holidays and hated having to re-lose the weight, so I need to have a better plan this year.

Today is Day 2 of my eleven days of work in a row. I'm trying to channel my "poor me, I deserve a treat" into on-line clothes shopping instead of eating. :lol:

Meg, shopping is always so much better than eating! You get to keep the cute outfit, don't feel sick, don't gain any weight.

Of course there is that thinner wallet detail - but thinner is better right? :p

Dagmar (no more impulse sale food!!!)

Meg - shopping, shopping, shopping! You've been working for 11 straight days, so there has to be at least some minor budget surplus, right? ;) Seriously, I've seen several online sales the last few days - Kohl's, Lands End, got an ad from Chico's I haven't opened yet.

Dagmar - kudos on tossing the candy. I've had to do that with things I couldn't control before, too. I had too much junk last night myself - kept within 50 cals of my calorie goal for the day, but am annoyed that I spent so much of it on empty calories. :hug: sorry you are still having DH issues, too.

Iris - candy corn... I just can't have it in the house at all, not even in the little packs.

MileHiMama - thanks for the coat info! My mom said LE runs large as well, particularly in the smaller sizes. Hm. I'm going to take the plunge today, so hopefully I'll guess right. :)

As I said earlier, my jawas were mad at me yesterday too. I fed them a handful of hershey kisses and those mary jane peanut butter kisses after dinner. They let me know how annoyed they were an hour later when I was starving to death but had limited calories left for the day from the earlier junk. Ick. I did do 45 minutes of cardio yoga (Yoga Fitness Plus w/ Elise Gulan off of Exercise TV) and my HRM said I burned 300 cals doing it, which is a little higher than normal for that workout. I know it felt like it though! The room was hot and it has been a few weeks since I did that particular workout, so that probably increased the burn a little.

Good day all!

Meg-- I'll join you in some online shopping. I am working my 5th of 13 days in a row (then one day off and then more work)......
The only problem is that I keep shopping online-- I need to stop! I got my cute new Nike shorts and top in the mail yesterday... the day before I got my GPS for my new car that I got Saturday... you get the picture!!

Cannot believe it is October already!!!!

Currently sunny and 59 at my office. I love the fall. Of course, I have an allergy headache and my eyes itch, but you have to take the bad with the good. :)

ETA - did i say earlier that the new pants I have on are size 2? I'm definitely liking the strength training effect - I weigh two pounds more than I started, but can comfortably wear a 2 now. Way cool.

Hi everyone, I'm just checking in again. I went to my scheduled Dr. appointment This past Monday. I am very sick again, "flu, with a touch of pneumonia in the left lower lung". Only good news was that my diabetes is doing OK and my weight is down 7 lbs. I'm back below goal for the first time in a loooonnnnnnnnng time. Not a fun way to lose weight, I'm guessing it's just dehydration from being sick and the weight will find me again as soon as I'm well again.

I'll catch up more later once I'm well!

Currently sunny and 59 at my office. I love the fall. Of course, I have an allergy headache and my eyes itch, but you have to take the bad with the good. :)

ETA - did i say earlier that the new pants I have on are size 2? I'm definitely liking the strength training effect - I weigh two pounds more than I started, but can comfortably wear a 2 now. Way cool.32

Currently sunny and 32 at the library today! :) It's 10:40 am and we should be in the 50's this afternoon, but since sunrise is not until nearly 8 am, it takes awhile to warm up.

Shannon, congrats on the new pants. I had a small NSV last night when I went to meet my GFs for dinner. One I hadn't seen for awhile asked if I'd lost weight. :) Weight training definitely helps - I've lost 12-15 lbs, but I didn't think it showed much.... Of course wearing pants that fit well helps.

Our citywide internet and email are down this morning. I'm working on my laptop off the public wireless. Thank goodness I can do that as much of my work - i.e. ordering books - is done online. Of course I cannot access any of my documents which is a PITA! I've got much of my budget done, but I have two evaluations to finish plus I can't see the accts to know how much $$ I have to spend, and I have a meeting with a guy who's going to build some new shelving for us. Sigh. I know everyone in the city is frustrated, and I at least can get online....

Hi all,

The jawas have been pretty happy for the last 48 hours. For the last two nights for dinner I've needed something fast because I've gotten home late, so I've been making omelets. I've been sauteeing a small onion and adding half a package of frozen spinach, then using that as the filling to the eggs and lowfat cheese. Delicious and so filling! It looks like it would be too much and the veggie flavor would overpower the eggs & cheese (I like to taste those things in my omelets!) but it's perfectly balanced. Tonight I'm making pork loin and green beans, so I've got to get home earlier.

Shannon, a size 2 is awesome! Great job! :carrot: I like the coat, too.

Dagmar, good for you for throwing the junk away. Food will not make it better! Stay strong.

Thanks, Allison, now I've got "tiptoe through the tuplips" running through my head :dizzy:

Happy Thursday everyone! Feed your jawas treasure!

Megan~Dagmar started it!!!

And I love omelets for dinner!!! We can have them now that DD moved out. She hates eggs so it was never an option. My DS gets a bit smile when it's breakfast night!

Get well, Lily. :hug:

My jawas love eggs and spinach too.

Size 2?? Woohoo, Shannon!

Mmmm, eggs and spinach :drool: I have a little spinach left from cleaning out the garden - this may just be tomorrow morning's breakfast menu. :)

TOnight is the potluck minefield. My goal is mostly veggies, and NO DESSERT. It's a quilt guild annual meeting, so alcohol is not involved.....

hi all,

Dagmar, Meg, by cosmic coincidence I also tosed my snacks yesterday...I cannot have dried cranberries or nuts in the house. Snaced way too much of these yesterday, so out they go and in goes my bowl of carrots in the fridge.

I'm adressing my weightgain again and implementing some gradual changes: back into workouts, and adding back weights & better eating. No results on the scales yet, but I'm doing good on the lifestyle changes so I count that as nsvs.

Lili :hug: good to see you. sorry you are unwell.

Have a great day all,
Rabbit

I think the new dog (like wrestling with a chimp - big, strong, really smart and inexhaustible) is making me feel really frustrated. I know Mack is exhausting me. I shouldn't have taken him on but I can offer up all sorts of reasons of pride, economics, etc. about why I did.

And he is a challenge. My job is not at all stimulating mentally and this dog is challenging me. That's the good part of having him.

The bad part is that I'm eating out of exhaustion and frustration. I think things will improve quickly (Mack is really smart) but I can put on 5 lbs. in a week with the binge eating in the evenings. And I'm too tired to do anything else. I went to bed at 9 p.m. last night because I couldn't keep my eyes open. So I got up at 3:20.

Gonna be a looong day.

How do the rest of you cope with periods of intense stress/frustration/ect.?

Thanks,
Dagmar

Dagmar,

"full catatrophe living". I coped with serious stress in my life through that book. It thought me to take a step back, take it 5 minutes or 1 hour at a time, and to meditate. Meditation, even if it is only 10 mins per day really worked wonders for me to put stressors into perspective.

:hug:

Hi everyone,

Camping trip this weekend. It will be a lot of fun and the weather is perfect for it. I feel as if I can keep activity high and am bringing my own food, I'm just worried that I'll be sucked in by the alcohol devil :devil: (I know my friends plan on drinking, I'm hoping to just keep it very moderate).

My new ipod nano came yesterday. At first I cheered. Then I plugged it into my computer at home, hoping it would just sync with the itunes I already have on my computer from my old ipod mini. Oh no. The older version of itunes wasn't even registering the nano was plugged in. And all the nano comes with is a skinny "getting started" manual that says "go online and download itunes". I don't have internet hooked up at home b/c I can't afford it! Grrrrrr. Going to the apple website to look for tips. I can't put itunes on my work computer, that would be totally inappropriate.

Lily, I totally missed your post yesterday. Sorry to hear that you're sick. Feel better.

Dagmar, have you considered taking a sleep aid? Melatonin or an OTC sleeping pill? I realize that your having trouble sleeping stems from your anxiety and stress, but being sleep deprived is probably making the stress worse. I know when I'm tired I get much more easily stressed. I've also gone through bouts of anxiety-related insomnia and of course getting better sleep doesn't solve the problem, but being rested might help you think through the stressful situations better. :hug:

Rabbit, good job on the lifestyle changes! It's the little things that add up that make us healthier.

Knee deep in flowers we'll stray
We'll keep the showers away.
And if I kiss you in the garden in the moonlight will you pardon me?
And tiptoe through the tulips with me!

Thanks Dagmar and Allison. My co-workers appreciate it!

What are everyone's plans for the weekend?

Megan - could you download iTunes as a file and put it off onto a disk to take home and install? Does it even work that way?

Dagmar - In the last year I try to do something to distract myself when I am feeling that urge for exhaustion/frustration eating. I read, clean, do some yoga, something. Or, I go to sleep, but I'm odd in that I can sleep for 15 hours straight if left uninterrupted, most people just end up at 3:20 like you did today. I know you are worn out at night, maybe the reading would distract? Mediation like rabbit said is actually good, too, if you can slow your mind down enough. I can't always.

Rabbit - just making the changes and sticking to them is absolutely an NSV! :)

Pat - that is cool that your friends commented on the weight loss! I hope your network is back up today.

Lily - I'm so sorry that you are sick. I hope you feel better soon. Take care of yourself.

DH doesn't eat eggs, even the smell makes him sick, so I can never make omelets, and I think I would really like them at this point. Sadness.

Had a beer last night, but cut my other snacks so still came in under calories for the day. I don't love beer, so I can easily drink just one and stop. No big plans for the weekend so far - plan to go to the park for a run this afternoon or tomorrow morning, might try to catch a movie Sunday afternoon after DSS goes back to his mom's.

:Wave: good day everyone!

I've downloaded the newer version of itunes and put it on my memory card to take home. I'm just hoping if I can do it as an update and not lose all my music files in my old itunes! I guess I just really wanted to be able to use my new ipod today. :p Oh well, a day is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Pat, how nice your friends commented on your loss. Strength training is wonderful, but 12-15 lbs is also nothing to sneeze at. Great job! :carrot:

I've downloaded the newer version of itunes and put it on my memory card to take home. I'm just hoping if I can do it as an update and not lose all my music files in my old itunes! I guess I just really wanted to be able to use my new ipod today. :p Oh well, a day is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I'm in the middle of a huge iTunes overhaul, so I know a little here. Upgrading your iTunes won't mess with your library and it should save all your playlists as well. The songs themselves are stored in a folder called iTunes or iTunes Music in the My Music folder.

One GREAT thing about the newest version of iTunes is a thing called Genius (but I think you have to be connected to the internet for it to work). If you like a song, you start playing it and then click Genius and it selects an entire playlist of similar songs to the one you like. But like I said, you have to be connected to the internet. :(

Allison & Meg - I love the genius feature. I've been using it on my iPhone when I workout and it pulls similar songs for a playlist. I don't think it connects to the internet to make the playlist, but I believe it did have to connect to get the needed song info at the beginning. I remember seeing a 'downloading your Genius data' message somewhere...

I've eaten cereal instead of my vitamin c packed smoothies the last couple of days and I just sneezed and it had that cold instead of just allergies feeling. I still think all of my trouble so far in September was all allergy related. I do not have time for an actual cold, and refuse to be sick on my anniversary getaway in November. Guess it is time for the Emergen-C and to go back to the smoothies...

I'm in the middle of a huge iTunes overhaul, so I know a little here. Upgrading your iTunes won't mess with your library and it should save all your playlists as well. The songs themselves are stored in a folder called iTunes or iTunes Music in the My Music folder. :(

Oh good, I'll keep my fingers crossed then. I'm hoping internet is in my near future, since my landlord lowered my rent by $50 a month this year (just for being a responsible tenant, yay), and a new internet service is slowly moving towards my area. I could see myself using the genius feature for workout music in particular, b/c I tend to listen to more poppy and really up tempo stuff to work out to, but don't listen to as much the rest of the time.

Shannon, take your vitamin C and get plenty of sleep! Sleep is my #1 tool to head off sickness.

I have a case of the Fridays this afternoon! :dizzy:

Morning. Our work network came back yesterday afternoon, but not all applications, and what was there ran slowly. They must have worked overnight because all seems well and at normal speed this morning. Whew.... I've got my first evaluation done, and am taking a break before starting the second. Of course I still need to go over them with the employees! :) These are my two best employees: my admin asst and my deputy director. They are both great, and the evals are easy enough, it's just doing it! THey've both been cutting up all week, pretending to do the kiss-up routine, and "tattling" on one another. (They're also very close friends) It really helped yesterday with the stress of no network.

Megan - was going to tell you all that everyone else did about your iTunes. Hope it all works out well. I noticed that Genius feature when I downloaded the last update, but haven't had time to play with it yet. Your plan for the camping trip sounds good. As long as you stick to your own alcohol - i.e. spritzers, you should be fine. Your friends won't worry about what you're drinking, but only that you are. At least that's been my experience.

Shannon - I seem to have warded off whatever I was trying to get earlier in the week. A couple nights of extra sleep and lots of vitamins/fluids. Hope you do the same.

Somewhere here yesterday someone - Megan? - was making spinach and eggs. Sounded so good I had this for breakfast this morning, with the end of our home-grown spinach and fresh eggs that a friend gave DH yesterday! Yum.

I taking my weekend to regroup on my food/exercise program. I'm 4 months into a 6 month program through Precision Nutrition. This last month has not been good for me. Started with 2 weeks with my family where I didn't exercise as much as I meant to, and didn't eat as well as I do at home (usually - I can slip up at home as well as anyone :) ). This program runs until 11/30, and I'd like to see a substantial change in my numbers by then. There's actually a cash prize for the participant who lower BF% the most, but I don't expect to win that. I just want my numbers to be lower. And they are, just not as much as I'd like.

But for today, it's FRIDAY! Yay! I can sleep late(er) in the morning and have no commitments beyond the washing machine and the gym. :lol:

hi maintainers!

Just as I had told you on the nvv's, the scale moved !down fortunately. Now to keep up with the changes, and not let go because i'm dizzy with success1

pat- i can slip up easily in my own home as well!

megan, all-interesting info on the itunes.I'm in for home computer maintenance this weekend, & I have to download some new music. I'll keep an eye out for the new Itunes & genius feature.

Cardio in store for me today. it looks cold & rainy outside so I'll do something indoors.

Have a great weekend all,'
Rabbit

I'm doing something completely different and going OP as of this morning (Sat.). I'm writing everything down in my calorie log and making sure I get out of the TV area in the evening if I feel an "eating urge" coming on.

I now have 3 former crushes attending the reunion event and I want to look absolutely fabulous!

Amazon shipped "Full Catastrophe Living" out yesterday - thanks rabbit! My hypnosis appointment is in less than 2 weeks. October will be the month that I turn this summer-long sulking thing around!

Dagmar :badbat:

I love a plain omelet with salsa , 2 tablespoons of salsa = about 10 calories !

So I took DS to the dermatologist for his teenage acne. He sent me away with 3 prescriptions, one oral and two creams. He gave me discount cards for them so that I'd pay $10, $20 and $25 (although my copay is $25 each, it is a bit of a savings). What I don't understand is this: the discount cards are given out by the pharmacy company who produce the drugs. But get this: the prescriptions' retail prices were $749,99 (no, that's not a typo), $213 and $215. The expensive one I got for $10. What???? Why would they charge $749 and then give you a card to pay only $10 (which ONLY works if you are NOT on Medicare or public assistance)? Methinks they're hoping to stick it to the government, but those of us who have worked in health care know that those government insurances either won't pay for it period or only reimburse the drug company or pharmacy a tiny bit. So who IS paying $749? I certainly wouldn't!

$749??? I don't understand it either... especially if the discount card is from the drug company. There must be some reason, though.

$749 ?? That is outrageous. I guess the pharma company is trying to rip off health insurance?
We paid more than the european level for our medicine here, and the geeverment has now made a law that they will only pay for the cheapest generic medicine. Anything else you have to take out additional insurance at a hefty premium. Funny thing is, ever since that law came into effect a couple of years ago, we see all the drug prices getting lower, so I guess this is working out and I'm glad about that. I already pay about 100 euro each month for basic healthcare insurance, I do not need it to get more expensive.

I filled my 3rd week of exercise commitment. Additionally, next week I'll embark on tallying calorie estimations so that I stay within my calorie budget. I'll not be able work out on tuesday, so I'll have to make up for that later in the week.

Have a great day all,
rabbit

The drug companies hand out discount cards in the US? - lucky you guys! But someone (ultimately the taxpayer I'm sure) has to pay.

We get no discounts on drugs in Ontario Canada, unless we are senior citizens. We have to pay full price at the pharmacy and there is an additional $11 charge for filling a prescription. The pharmacist will only give you a generic cheaper version of the drug if you specifically ask for it by name. MY DH takes a generic form of an anti-allergy drug that costs less than half of the regular drug. He researched online to find the generic (as he refuses to go to a doctor) and most doctors I've dealt with don't readily give you the name of the generic.

It's amazing how low most drugs' production costs are and how much profit those companies make.

Dagmar :badbat:

The drug companies supposedly have huge research costs to develop new drugs and get them approved, and that's their justification for some of the prices. They are, after all, in business. So, someone has to pay for the development--either the consumer or the government (us).

I think the best solution for many people would be not to take so many drugs. It seems to me that the pharma industry makes up diseases or causes of diseases, and then develops a drug that may or may not successfully treat the "disease," and that also has side effects. Then they embark on huge marketing campaigns to sell the public and the doctors on this.

OK, off the :soap: now.

Jay

Warning! :soap: and quite a bit of wandering through my mind :dizzy:

Some people (not us :p of course) are looking for a "quick fix". Drugs can offer a temporary version of that. (I sometimes wish there was a "weight maintenance" drug :p).

It makes sense to stay healthy through exercise and diet but not everyone is on board with that and some of us come to it later in life (after much damage is already done). And, as our bodies age we sometimes need additional meds just to maintain what we've got (HRT for women springs right into my mind).

Staying healthy our way is sooo much more work that just popping a pill.

I think the drug companies are relying on people's inertia and the (mostly) North American search for the quick solution to help them continue to make gigantic profits.

They really are "profiting" from people's "misery".

Pbffttt to them!!!

Dagmar (drug of choice: chocolate!!!) :badbat:

While I agree that most people are all too willing to just fix things with drugs, I thank every pharmaceutical company that developed the drugs to treat my DH's cancer. :)

Pat - of course!

But OTOH I'm glad the government has taken steps overhere to lessen the grip of the drug market. It used to be that you had to get a prescription for everything: eye wash, antiallergens, everything. So I would have to go to the doctor multiple timers per year just to get a prescriptoin for my hayfever. This is now over the counter stuff, and I'm glad for that. And it has also become a factor 4 cheaper. Plus I save out on not having to go to the doctor and plan for off time, driving there, waiting around and paying my doctor.

Furthermore it was a bit strange that with the reason of the drug companies about the expensive research, the same stuff would cost like 7 euro in france, and 45 euro in the netherlands. If the vdevelopment is so expensive I would expect the stuff also to be expensive in france and greece. I suspect that while the development story is true, there also is a lot of marketing involved and they charge high proces where the customer is willing or able to pay more.

My family doctor back home was always wonderful about giving me extras of the "free samples" that the drug reps left whenever he had them - he would also specifically search out generics for me. My current script is for 10 mg a day and he wrote it for 20 mg and told me to break them in half because both pills cost the same per pill even though one has twice as much active ingredient!

My family doctor back home was always wonderful about giving me extras of the "free samples" that the drug reps left whenever he had them - he would also specifically search out generics for me. My current script is for 10 mg a day and he wrote it for 20 mg and told me to break them in half because both pills cost the same per pill even though one has twice as much active ingredient!

A good, up to date doctor is a large factor in helping me stay healthy and in keeping more money in my wallet. My GP retired several years ago and my new guy is much better. He saved me about $200 per year in prescribing fees by changing the way the prescriptions were given out.

BTW I have nothing against paying for drugs and in helping the drug companies fund research for things like diabetes, cancer, etc. What I resent is how much of what they make goes into profit. I sincerely doubt that their R & D budgets are even 5% of their profit.

I'm hopping off this particular soapbox now. My two cents worth has turned into 25 cents :p

Dagmar :badbat:

Hi everyone, I'm just checking in again. I went to my scheduled Dr. appointment This past Monday. I am very sick again, "flu, with a touch of pneumonia in the left lower lung". Only good news was that my diabetes is doing OK and my weight is down 7 lbs. I'm back below goal for the first time in a loooonnnnnnnnng time. Not a fun way to lose weight, I'm guessing it's just dehydration from being sick and the weight will find me again as soon as I'm well again.

I'll catch up more later once I'm well!
lilybelle, we miss hearing from you. I hope your health issues have improved and all is going well with the family.