Living Maintenance - Maintainers Chat: Week Of October 5 - 11

Good morning and happy new week! I dragged myself out of bed, turned on the coffee, logged in ... and no 3FC! Help! Fortunately it came back in a few minutes, but it was panic attack time there for a while. How can I drink coffee without 3FC?? :lol:

What a week! I worked every day, including Saturday and Sunday, and my next day off will be next Sunday. So I'm halfway through the marathon. We had a special Breast Cancer Awareness Spa Day yesterday, with special spa services (super luxury facials, massages, manis and pedis) and all the proceeds (including my time) being donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. It turned out to be very successful but I sure wished that I was one getting the spa services instead of working!

Because of my crazy hours, I haven't been to the gym since Wednesday. My weight is holding steady because I'm trying hard not to fall into the comfort food trap. What's suffering is my mental outlook -- boy, am I cranky without exercise! Thank goodness, I can spent 90 blissful minutes there this morning, sweating out all the stress and tension. Can't wait! :carrot:

I threw together a pot of chili last week and have been living off that since I didn't have time for my usual Sunday bulk cooking. Luckily I don't get tired of eating the same thing every day, else I'd be in trouble! Today is grocery day before work and I should be able to stock up for the rest of the week. If I can get a bag of shrimp cleaned and marinated before I leave, I'll grill it when I get home and that will be this week's dinners. Grilled shrimp + steamed broccoli + a little brown rice = :T

I'm been thinking hard about the holidays and trying to make a game plan so I don't end up with a gain this year, like I did last year. Maybe next week we can start a thread about holiday challenges? I'm counting the aisles of cheap Halloween candy as the first holiday challenge! The old-timers here at 3FC know that it gets very, very quiet around here at the end of the year, so the most important thing we can do is to keep posting about our challenges and strategies. No matter how rough it gets out there, don't disappear!

Enough from me, time for the gym. I hope everyone had a great weekend and is ready for a terrific week! :carrot:

I'm in good shape to start this week. Writing everything down and really making an effort to finally get to goal before Christmas.

Meg Why don't you book some of the spa services for yourself after your work marathon? You certainly deserve them. :( about not getting in the exercise as much as you'd like. I get really cranky without the stretching (the dog walking Mon.- Fri. is a given).

Good idea for the holidays. Our Thanksgiving is this coming weekend. I have a lovely lower cal menu planned for just DH and myself this year. Since his relatives are so far away and mine have never invited us we get to celebrate by ourselves. The one indulgence will be chocolate cake but I'm buying just two pieces.

And for some reason I'm not drawn to the Halloween candy this year. Probably because it's in its own section of the store and I don't go there on purpose. I had enough problems with those darn chocolate bars on sale!

Have a great week everyone!

Dagmar :badbat:

Good Monday morning, maintainers. I like your holiday strategy, Meg. I tend to disappear when things aren't going well. It's easy to post about good workouts and on plan days, but I just want to hide at other times. I really want to minimize the end of year gain this year, especially since I am sitting above my redline already!

Group Ride + Group Power is the plan for this morning. My legs are already sore from yesterday's run but I am sure I can get through it.

Hope everyone has a good, on-plan Monday.

Hi maintainers,

Meg - Gruesome work hours! :hug: to get you started on the 2nd half. You are doing wel!

:wave: dagmar, ward

I've survived my first 3 weeks back on wokouts and I'm adding tallying my calories as my next "good habit" to add. I find it difficult, but so far I can tell how much I've had today. Thats good.

And I can tell its working: I switched to a smaller pantsize today. I still cannot button my skinny jeans, but I am getting there.

Meg - I'm there with you on the holiday challenges. I sure cannnot use holiday weightgain. My plan for the next monts is to get rid of the 2008 holiday pounds, and we all know they are more difficult because they are sticking already.

Have a great day all,
rabbit

Meg, do you at least get some time off next week for working so much the past two weeks?

Dagmar, great job being OP this weekend!

Ward, good luck with your workout!

Rabbit, I'm still working on the 2008 holiday pounds too.

I'm back from my conference. Weight is up 2lbs, but I'm not worried yet because 2lbs is a pretty common water weight gain for me. I'll worry if it's not gone by Saturday though! Plus this week is TOM, which always means a gain anyway. I got in all my workouts while at the conference, and I ate relatively well. The first day I was an eating angel, bt my willpower to resist the desserts went steadily downhill after that! :lol:

Tomorrow is DH's and my second anniversary. We will probably celebrate with a small defrosted piece of our wedding cake (yes, we're still working on that top layer -- we had a big top layer because we intended for them to serve it, not save it!).

Good morning everyone,

I am very happy that I stayed OP and had a lot of fun this weekend! I just ate all the food I had brought camping, drank my planned 2 glasses of wine, and since it was BYO everything it wasn't even a big deal (for my friends or for my jawas). The spring diving was ok, but honestly I prefer open water diving. We ducked into the cavern but diving with something over your head, even if it's several feet away, is much different than diving in the open water and very claustrophobic. I will never be a cave diver, no thanks. I also got to go to the organic co-op and stock up on staples from the bulk bins, and really enjoyed the theater yesterday.

I put together my bean salsa for lunches, will work on some protein pancakes and cut up veggies tonight. I got home rather late and was busy unpacking groceries and camping equipment last night.

Meg, enjoy your gym time! I completely understand what you mean about gym time moderating your mood. I'm the same way. Even if I'm eating OP working out is what keeps me on an even keel. I'm with you for the holiday challenges! I think 3 years ago, 2006 was my holiday healthiest holiday season. I remember it well b/c my sis was getting married. I'd gained a few pounds (oh, to weigh 143 again!) but I could not gain another ounce to fit in my maid of honor dress. I kept up my workouts and truly only had the occasional treat through all the holiday parties. What shall our challenges be this year?

Rabbit, congrats on getting in a smaller pants size! Keep up the good work! :carrot:

Ward, have a great ride this morning!

Dagmar, I'm also not walking down the aisles of Halloween candy (or the Christmas candy aisles that are popping up, for that matter!). Out of sight, out of mind.

Jessica, happy almost anniversary!

How is everyone else doing? Have a great week everyone!

I had a good weekend. Saturday was filled with driving DS around to his various Karate demonstrations and babysitting his electronic health class baby while he did his Karate. That thing was obnoxious!

Sunday we drove into Fullerton to see DD and meet up with my brother, SIL and niece who were visiting for a soccer tournament. We all got to see DD's apartment and meet her roommate. He's a really nice guy and it's kind of comforting that they're friends with mutual interests (music).

So lunch Sunday was soup and salad for me, salad and sandwich for DH and DS and DD shared a salad and burger. We got home last night and no one had any desire to eat dinner. DH and I munched on a few chips with salsa and DS ended up having a bowl of cereal. So that should have been a low eating day for me, but I'm up a pound. No worries, it should be gone tomorrow! I got up early today and got in a good workout on the treadmill.

Good morning!

That's a stress schedule, Meg. Glad you were able to get to the gym today. I agree about booking some spa time for yourself. Good point about not disappearing. I have to confess that I do that when I'm not doing well, which is the worst time to disappear.

Dagmar, I read somewhere that it was Thanksgiving up north. That's always a hard one since it's so food centered. Sounds like you have a good plan, though.

Have fun at the gym, Wardhog!

A smaller pant size, Rabbit--way to go!

Happy Anniversary, Jessica--hope you enjoy your cake. Sadly, I don't think I've ever had cake left over to freeze. :(

Just the mention of the word "cave" make me shiver, Megan. Glad you had a good time at the theater. Sounds like you had a fun-filled weekend.

So they really do those electronic baby things, Allison. I always though that was just a TV thing. Wonder if they've done studies to see if they keep kids from having babies. How's he dealing with it?

Yesterday I was doing something at the table when I heard a dog yelping loudly out in front of my house. It was a horrible sound. I'm pretty sure what happened was that the dog belonging to our new neighbors got out, and the guy was hitting it. Now I've never seen the dog, but I've heard from other neighbors that it gets out and poops on lawns. I've seen the result on my lawn. Just after I got to the window, I saw the neighbor's garage door closing. This is all conjecture, of course, but I'm fairly sure I'm right, and I've heard similar yelping before at night preceded by a guy yelling. I keep thinking that if the guy hits a dog for doing doggie things, then when his kid gets older, what's he going to do when the kid does kid things? I also have never understood why people call their dog, then hit it when it comes to them. You should reward that behavior. I'm obviously still upset by that horrible sound of the poor dog.

Well, I got to the gym once last week. I'm shooting for at least twice this week. What happened to the woman who was at the gym six days a week for almost two hours per session? *Sigh*

Have a good week, everyone

Sheila, you can report him to the local SPCA. That's abuse, and in some places there are fines and they can take away the dog.

Jay

Sheila, what Jay said. In many places it is illegal to abuse animals (though sadly not everywhere). Here (http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/animal_abuse_and_neglect/reporting_animal_abuse_or_neglect.html) is an article about reporting abuse from the humane society of the US, but you will need to contact your local humane society, SPCA, or animal control. Dogs can take a lot of pain before they start yelping, so if you heard yelping it probably qualifies as abuse. It's possible that they'll say they can't do anything if you didn't actually witness what happened, but it is worth calling about.

Howdy! Busy Monday here, and a wet and cold one as well. We've had enough wind and rain in the past week that all the leaves are now off the trees - and a good many still on my lawn, but I'm done with them. These ones will get off the lawn in the spring. :)

Had a so-so weekend. My meals were fine, but too much snacking, esp at a square dance party on Sat night. Sigh. I'm back on the wagon today and determined to have a good week. I'm going to an out-of-town 3 day meeting on Wed evening (there through Sat lunch) so it will be a challenge. I'm taking my own breakfast stuff - HB eggs, hot cereal, yogurt and doing a lot of self-talk around the other meals.

Exercise is going okay. I'm scheduled for lifting M/W at home, and F at the hotel. (I taking some bands in case they have no weights) Cardio is Tues and Sat, and I know the hotel has a pool :swim: so that'll be a fun change from the elliptical.

Meg- I second, third, whatever the idea of booking some spa time for yourself. And I agree about exericising. I know that when I exercise regularly I eat better.

Jessica - happy anniversary. Doesn't seem like it was 2 years ago already!

Megan - great job on the weekend away and keeping to your plan. I don't like close quarters either....

Sheila, what Jay said. In many places it is illegal to abuse animals (though sadly not everywhere). Here (http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/animal_abuse_and_neglect/reporting_animal_abuse_or_neglect.html) is an article about reporting abuse from the humane society of the US, but you will need to contact your local humane society, SPCA, or animal control. Dogs can take a lot of pain before they start yelping, so if you heard yelping it probably qualifies as abuse. It's possible that they'll say they can't do anything if you didn't actually witness what happened, but it is worth calling about.

If it's a relatively young dog it may just be yelping from being scared. It does sound like the guy, although maybe not abusing the dog, doesn't know what he's doing in terms of training it.

Hitting a dog is in no way a good training strategy. Unless you see the guy actually hit the dog I don't think the SPCA can do much. They can talk to him but, if he's the abuser you think he is, he then might take that out on the poor dog.

Sorry, I wish I had an answer for you. I've tried to intervene in several incidents down at the off leash and been told (in no uncertain terms and with liberal use of the "f" word) to back off.

Dagmar

If you heard a man yelling and a child screaming, you'd call the police, right? So why would you not do the same just because it's a dog?

I wouldn't confront the man directly--that could be dangerous. But a talking-to by a Humane Society enforcement officer might change things, you never know. To do nothing is to consent to what's happening, IMO.

Jay

Good morning! I read this thread yesterday, but never made it over here to post. Up & down weekend led to not much sleep Sunday night led to crazy Monday. Got some sleep last night, so hope today is better. I also exercised when I got home yesterday, and rearranged all the exercise equipment in my garage to make room for my new bench & rack, which got out some of the tension left over from the weekend. Brought my clothes to go to the park after work, but it is raining now... I thought it was supposed to be partly sunny and 70 today, not raining! Might be treadmill when I get home after all. Though, I passed several people running on the way here, so might give it a shot anyway. If it is just cloudy and cool with no rain I think I can handle it.

Meg - crazy work hours! Glad you are over halfway done. I also tend to eat the same thing over and over without getting bored, it does definitely make it easier to plan that way. :)

Dagmar - I avoid the Halloween candy section of the stores as well. It helps that at my local Target the section is in the back corner of the store. I don't pass it unless I'm going to bathroom supplies or automotive, and even then I can go the other way and miss it. Whew! Good job on the journaling! :high:

Ward - do you run on the sidewalks or at a park? I find myself afraid of the drivers around here so the sidewalks intimidate me a little...

Rabbit - :high: on the pants size, and the 3 weeks of exercise!

Jessica - happy anniversary! Funny that they froze the entire top layer of your cake! :) Good job on the exercise on your trip!

Megan - I have a friend who goes caving and I've seen his pics. Small spaces, dark, creepy. I can't imagine being in one under water. :eek: good job on the food this weekend!

Allison - I bet the pound yesterday was from sodium in the soup... And, I have never seen a real one of those health class plastic babies either. How is DS handling it?

Sheila - you can get to the gym twice this week, I know you can! And, definitely keep an eye out to see what is going on with the dog. A conversation with someone from the Humane Society isn't a bad idea. I've called in lots of times, sadly, I don't think anything was ever done in response to one of my calls and I know one of my neighbors shot their dog in the front yard when I was living at my old house. I had called several times to report abuse of the dog attached to a chain all the time with no food or water and left out in extreme temperatures. Sad.

Pat - ooo, pool. Fun. Enjoy your trip!

:wave: to everyone!

Well, DS gave the baby back yesterday and he sure seemed relieved. I think the worst of it was the fact that it was a doll. Boys just don't play with dolls. The thing was heavy, too--about 10 pounds to really be like a baby. Other than the weight it just looked like a doll.

I'm back to 150 just as I predicted. Now to get under that!

It's gotten cold here. Ok, relatively speaking, it's gotten cold here! We still have windows open in the house, but on the way to work this morning it was only 57 degrees. Highs have been around 80 which is just heavenly.

Not much to report. Everyone have a great day and

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JESSICA!!!

Thanks for the anniversary wishes everyone! DH got me a gift certificate to a lingerie store that just opened up and I'm super-excited. It's one of those stores where all the people who work there are old ladies and they measure you and make sure you get the right size, and they carry bizarre sizes like my 30FF's. :love: I was so happy this store opened because previously I had to drive all the way to Ft Wayne (about 2 hours) in order to buy bras. Their new branch is just 15 mins from my house!

Allison, when I was a kid we had to do egg babies -- you carry around a blown-out eggshell that's supposed to be your "baby" and got points subtracted if you cracked it.

Shannon, that is horrible about your neighbor shooting the dog. :( My dog is basically my kid, I love him so much and I could never do anything to hurt him. Even when he chewed up one of my shoes last week :p all we did was yell at him a little. Then five minutes later we couldn't be mad at him anymore (luckily it was a shoe I never wore that I'd gotten for $5 at a secondhand store).

Megan, maybe if you talk BF into proposing to you you'd have the motivation to drop the last few pounds to fit in a wedding dress! :lol: (I'm just joking, but I can tell you I was definitely motivated to maintain once I had ordered that dress.) Actually I have some more motivation to get back to goal since my sister is getting married next year and I'll be the maid of honor (at least, one of them).

Pat, weren't you just out of town like last week? It seems like you're always traveling!

Jessica - unfortunately, I have two neighbors shooting pets stories in my past, and the main one is why I am so passionate about calling the humane society for situations that I see. And, why I often have trouble with guns. I don't often talk about it. When I was in the 8th grade I had a cat, she had been with me since I was in 1st grade. Yellow short haired generic cat, slept in my lap, climbed up between me and my books, slept curled up next to me. Greatest cat ever. Daisy was her name, because I was a girl scout and named her for Juliette Gordon Low. My mother, brother and I were at my grandmother's house one evening after school for dinner, and when it was time to go home I put up a big fuss and wanted to stay until the end of the sitcom I was watching. Mom gave in with the "you'll get to bed late and be tired tomorrow, keep that in mind and don't complain to me". When we got home we discovered that someone had shot my cat - she was lying on the front porch steps waiting for us to come home, couldn't even cry anymore. Took her to the vet and there wasn't anything he could do for her, it had been too long and she had lost too much blood. The next day we could see that she had dragged herself from under the tree next to the end of the driveway where she used to sit and wait for us to come home down to the steps. All I kept thinking was that if I hadn't insisted on watching whatever stupid tv show I was watching we would have been home already and she would have been inside with me. I don't have any proof, but I'm positive it was the neighbor across the street and to the right who did it. Growing up in the country everyone had guns and used to shoot at things for sport - this man used to shoot at passing cars.

Twenty five years ago and I am crying writing the story down now.

:hug: Shannon :hug:

What a heartbreaking story.

:cry: :cry: :cry:

I am so sorry for that neighbor. According to Buddhist belief, his next reincarnation will not be particularly pleasant. How sad that he has wasted his precious human life by taking lives of others for amusement and causing so much pain. Better luck next time, buddy...

Shannon, just remember that you were a child, and even if you had been an adult, you wouldn't have known that the cat had been shot. It is not your fault, although your heart was so broken. Your cat was so glad to have you find her...

And you are so fortunate that you didn't retaliate.

Jay

Shannon, that's so sad. I'm so sorry about Daisy. What's the deal with boys and guns? My cat got shot with a BB gun--he was okay, though. After working at the H.S. and seeing some of the stuff firsthand, I now keep my cats inside. People can be really cruel.

Jessica, have fun at the lingerie store!

Thanks for the advice about the dog. Since I didn't see what happened, I can't make a complaint, but I can talk to animal control and ask what to do if I ever see what's happening. I did confront someone for hitting a dog--the guy was creepy, but my 6'3" DH was nearby so creepy guy didn't launch into a tirade. I figure if people hit dogs, then kids are next.

My kitchen cabinets were delivered this morning. Looks like we'll be demoing the kitchen this weekend. Oh, joy! I know the finished product will be nice, but the steps to get there are rather a pain.

Oh, and I spent 45 minutes on the elliptical this morning. One day at the gym down, at least one, hopefully more, to go.

Sunny here--yay! Have a happy Tuesday!

Shannon, that is so incredibly sad. Reading your story made me cry. :grouphug: :hug: :hug: :hug: I just can't understand why someone would do such a heartless thing. :( I need to go home and give my dog a big hug now.

Thanks for the hugs guys. :) Writing it all down did remind me that even though my current cat meows all the time and wakes me up and annoys me that she also sleeps on me when I leave the bedroom door open and checks on me when I'm sick and rubs on me and purrs. I'm going to give her one of the catnip mice I have put away for special occasions when I get home.

Howdy - I had a lousy morning. Had to fast for a blood draw which was scheduled for 8. Got there and after 4 tries the gal says go downstairs to the lab (branch of the hospital) and have them do it. I get there and they don't open til 9. But at 9 I have a podiatrist appt in the same building, so I go up there. Takes 40 minutes before I see the doc, and another 30 with her. Then I go back down to the lab, sign in and wait another 40 minutes. Fortunaely, that took only about 5 minutes. She looked at a lot of veins, and when she decided, it was in on the first try. Yay! Finally, at 11 am I got some food!! :lol: Good thing I'd planned my exercise for after work....

Now of course I'm working through my lunch hour to get everything done before I leave in the morning.

No, Jessica. I went on vacation 9/2-14, but I've been home since then. :) This is a 3 day work-related meeting for directors of larger public libraries in the state. Next week I'm taking Thurs-Fri off for a quilt retreat at a camp about 30 miles from here. 3+ days of sewing/chatting (we go til Sun morning). After that, no travel plans til late March, though it's always subject to change!

Shannon, that is AWFUL that someone would do that! I really cannot imagine what possesses people to harm animals... it's so, so cruel and really upsets me.

Jessica, happy anniversary and enjoy the lingerie shopping!

Shannon, that's so sad. :(

I am very late to the thread this week. I was going to skip it because my week is so hectic (again) but I need to be here because my week is so hectic (again).

So, HI to everyone!!

Happy Anniversary Jessica!!

Shannon-- Hugs to you. What a very sad story. My very best dog we've ever owned was Annie. She was a stray doberman that I found. When I found her she had heartworms, was malnourished, and had multiple BB's inside her. We nursed her back to health and she was absolutely the sweetest dog I've ever seen--- and I've owned a lot of dogs. We had her less than 3 years when she started limping (we estimate she was 2-3 when we found her). She had bone cancer so we amputated her leg. People were so scared of a 3-legged doberman! She unfortunately only lived another 10 months or so after her surgery. I still miss her. We now have Ozzie (another doberman) plus Jozi (great dane) but it's not the same....

Book fair for me at school this week. More busy than I can imagine. No time to eat, breathe, sleep, work out.... next week should be more calm hopefully.....

Hi all,

Just popping in to say hello. Today is my last "calm" day around the office before a group of researchers descend. I have to take them out on the boat tomorrow through Sunday. One of the profs is the source of all of my workplace stress for the last month - she can be quite demanding and keeps trying to give me responsibilities that aren't in my job (and she is not my supervisor, so it's not her place to do so). I'm tense already. However, I have healthy meals planned and prepped as far as possible, and stress is not an excuse to eat! I'm not tempted to at this point, but I'm going to keep saying it in case I do get tempted. :oP I'm pretty sure we'll get back in the afternoons in time for me to get to the gym, if not I'll take a walk around the block or jump rope or something active, I'm determined. My chorus met last night for rehearsal after our summer hiatus. It was nice to sing again!

Jessica, happy anniversary! What a nice present from DH, and how nice they opened a new branch of your favorite store near you. A good bra is hard to find.

Pat, wow, you could wait until 11am for food? <insert amazement, shock and awe here> Enjoy your meeting with all of your friends.

Sheila, good luck with the kitchen. It will look lovely and be nice to use when it's all done!

Shannon, Sheila, Michele, what sad pet stories. :hug::hug::hug: My favorite dog at the shelter here, or, I suppose I should say the one I hold the softest spot in my heart for, was obviously abused at some point. He & his sis have are about 10 months and have lived at the shelter most of their lives, but he lived somewhere else long enough to be very skittish. He's gotten better but almost always has his tail tucked way down between his legs. He's a very sweet dog but scared of the world, except when he's in his run with his sis. I also can't imagine what would possess a person to abuse another creature. Ok, yeah, definitely asking my co-worker what day this week she's going to the shelter and I'll go with her.

Oops, gotta run (er, dial) into a conference call. Have a great day all!

Pat, wow, you could wait until 11am for food? <insert amazement, shock and awe here>

Well, I was, um, a mite cranky! :rofl:

DH is already sulking. While I was in class last night he brought home beer, chips, cookies, chicken wings and fries. Why is he sulking? Because he "sucked" on stage Tues. night with his garage band.

I'm going to have to plan a whole long weekend of activities for the big baby. I would rather just check into a hotel downtown and do my thing but I'm broke.

SIGH. It seems I have to either leave this man (after 13 years) or accept that he's never going to change anything about his physical health until a catastrophe (heart attack, hernia ripping apart, diabetes diagnosis with insulin shots required, etc) happens. At that point I become his nurse, something I also do not want.

I keep leading by example but he's not following. This is very hard. I find it difficult to motivate myself to continue and now I'm supposed to prop him up everytime there's a little problem with his hobby?

Come on guy. GROW UP!!!

Have a great Thursday all! I'm off to do yoga.

Dagmar :badbat:

Hey Mudpie, I'd say, give up trying to fix him or make him better.

I know nothing about your relationship, but have you and he had conversations about your feelings regarding his pouting and needy behavior? That might be a good place to start, although perhaps difficult. Maybe couples counseling? This might help him want to change on his own.

Today I'm packing for vacation! :cb: :broc: :cb: :broc: I hope you all have a good week!

Jay

Dagmar - :hug: Have you talked to DH about this? Does he know you are feeling this way? Like Jay said, maybe couples counseling might be worthwhile.

Jay, have fun on your vacation!

Megan, can you tactfully tell the researcher that something is not your job? Like when she asks you to do something, say, "That's not part of my job but I will talk to XXX about it since s/he is the one responsible for doing that." Good luck with the healthy eating! 5 lbs for Thanksgiving, I know you can do it!

I went for a walk last night instead of my planned run. I think my knees need a little bit of a break. When the weather turns cold they always start aching, and all the pavement-pounding sprint intervals probably don't help. Still planning to run Friday, and a bike ride this weekend to make up for yesterday's missed run.

Dagmar, accept what you cannot change. We just cannot make people do what we know is best for them. I know this is tough to accept. Have you considered that you may be enabling him to continue his destructive behaviour ? It is tough to let go but sometimes that is the only way.

Dagmar - :hug: I was thinking just what Bargoo said, but she beat me to it. There is a big space between knowing the right things to do and consistently making the choice to do the right things. At this point, I still fight with myself every day to make myself exercise and turn down the brownies, but I get it done. Most days. I can make these choices for myself every day, but I can't make these choices for the other people around me. Until that last thing clicks, your DH might not be able to make those changes. With some people, it is a catastrophic health event that pushes them to consistently do better. With others they never make the changes. I know it is frustrating when you see him start paying more attention to his diet and exercise, then some emotional upheaval knocks him back off track with another round of "I can't do this anymore because of [insert reason here]". You said you were going to have to plan another weekend of babying activities. Why? Do what you need to do for you, involve him if it works, but don't cater to him the entire weekend. Like Bargoo said, being the center of attention for days after incidents could be enabling some of the behavior. Good luck.

Jessica - hope your knees are better today!

Megan - glad you got to sing again last night! Don't let the professor make you crazy. Sending her to the person who really does what she is asking for is a great idea, but I know that might be almost as stressful as just doing whatever she is asking for. :hug:

Michele - I used to love book fairs...

Pat - I would have been losing my mind by 11 with no food... urgh. Good trip this weekend!

I have had a crazy week myself. Back and forth to the courthouse for work, dentist appointment yesterday. Hate the dentist. This was a new one recommended by a coworker and I liked them - massage chairs during cleaning, scented candles burning, a flavia machine in the waiting room, and a complimentary paraffin treatment for your hands while they are doing your cleaning. Very girly. Felt a little pampered, which helped with the annoyance later about my sore mouth. :o

Good day everyone.

DH and I attended DS's back to school night last night and met 5 of his 6 teachers. This morning I asked DS some questions:
~what is your favorite class? Latin (the one we missed as the teacher has cancer and is having chemo and is quite tired from it all).
~why? The teacher is really neat and we have a lot of fun in the class.
Kind of makes me cry--I think this is her 2nd bout with the cancer and for her to stay teaching during such a crisis--and keep her wits about her and make it fun says a lot about her. I wish I could have met her. I don't know when we'll get another chance--perhaps after grades come out.
All his teachers seem really nice and interesting and DS says he likes all his classes and teachers. I'm so glad he likes school!!

Shannon~flavia machine?

Dagmar~you've got to stop beating yourself up for your DH's tirades. I don't think anything can help him except himself. Is he seeing a therapist?

Shannon, aren't the paraffin treatments nice? The dental office I was at before I moved did that, and it was quite relaxing. What the heck is a flavia machine? Massage chairs sound good, too. Now, if they could just hypnotize or safely anesthetize during fillings, root canals, crowns. . .

Dagmar, :hug: Counseling, IMHO, is almost always helpful. Just detaching and making yourself responsible only for yourself is difficult, but it's something that Alanon teaches, and I think people with eating issues (like myself) are just like alcoholics. I still "solve" my problems with food. The extra weight is gone, but the food issues are still there.

Megan, good for you for having a plan!

Allison, that's so sad about the teacher, but pretty cool that Latin is his favorite subject and she's his favorite teacher. I hope that she wins her battle with the cancer dragon. It's so much easier when kids like school, isn't it?

I made my goal of two days at the gym. Now I have to work up to 3 days. Too much going on these days, and I realize I'm not making myself a priority, something I did when I was losing weight. Consequently, the pants are tighter and the muscles flabbier. I do love my volunteer work, however, so it's tough. I'm trying to get a reading dogs program going at the place where I volunteer with kids. And we're ripping our kitchen apart this weekend, although I'm taking some time out to go see Menopause the Musical. Anyone seen it?

Happy Thursday to all!

Sheila, LOL, I've never heard of Menopause the Musical!

I have to brag today . . . Today while doing my NRLW workout, I increased the weight on ALL the exercises! That was me with the 25# dumbell doing my bulgarian split squats, oh yeah. I have a feeling that tomorrow I'm going to regret it, but it sure felt good at the time! Slowly but surely I will make progress toward my goal of being able to do a single full push-up. Some day!

Hi all,

First day of sampling done, plenty of time to get to the gym and get a good dinner. My new iPod is finally up and running, too! Hurrah!

Jessica, way to increase your weights!!! Great job! :wl: I already did tell her it's not my job, she didn't respond well. My counterpart is talking with our supervisor about it this week and we'll see what he says. But thanks for the support.

Sheila, sometimes we can't make ourselves top priority, and sometimes we shouldn't. But when we can, we also need to realize that taking care of ourselves helps us take care of everyone else better, too.

Allison, how nice that DS is doing so well and enjoying his classes. His Latin teacher must really love teaching, how wonderful and sad.

Shannon, that sounds like a great dentist! I've never been to such a nice office!

Jay, have a nice vacation!

Dagmar, I think you've been given some good advice already, so I'll just give you a hug. :hug: We can't change someone who doesn't want to change, it's just not our responsibility.

Have a good afternoon everyone!

Alllison & Sheila - Flavia (http://us.myflavia.com/home/index.jsp) is a single serve coffee system with multiple flavors of coffee, tea, cocoas, various sweetener packets, etc. The office had lots of coffee and tea flavors and some of the cappuccino add-on packs that topped it with a steamy milk like topping.

Jessica - I have a terrible time with the Bulgarian Split Squats. How do you keep from falling over?

Hi guys! I'm sure enjoying being in a hotel, and away from the politics of work. Today is a rest day from exercise, and tomorrow I plan to :swim: for cardio.

Dagmar - I'll just add my :hug: as well, as others have already provided the advice I would.

Shannon - I always have to do BSS on the bench of a cable machine so I can grab the upright bar if necessary. :lol: I think I should suggest the paraffin treatment to my dentist....

Jessica - great job on higher weights. It does feel good, doesn't it?

Weather is lousy here with a big storm supposed to come through tonight. It was very windy when I drove down yesterday. It rained most of the day, though it had stopped when we went out to dinner, but was still very wet. I haven't talked to DH to see what's happening at home. (I'm about 80 miles and a mountain range south of home, so the weather can be quite different.

Sheila, I saw Menopause the Musical in Vegas last summer and I really enjoyed it. :)

Megan, I hope your supervisor can sort things out.

Shannon, I hold a dumbbell on my chest with both hands, stand a bit of a ways in front of the bench, then put the top of my back foot up on the bench (carefully, I usually wobble a little). Then I face forward and just go up and down without really moving either foot at all. I find that it's easier to keep both feet in place than to let my back foot slide forward and backward. Also I don't stand too far in front of the bench.

Pat, we've been having crappy weather too, but probably nowhere near as bad as yours. :) Just a lot of rain and wind.

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm having Facebook withdrawal. It's going to be a long day at work if I can't sign on. Don't know what the problem is.

Sorry guys, but we're having some wonderful weather here. Sunny and highs in the 80's. This is what paradise is. But we sure had to suffer through some horrendous heat to get here, so don't pout too much!

I'm a tad bit miffed at DD. She once again wrote a check and sent it the day before she transferred money from her savings account. She did this when I was in Italy and she promised she'd never to do it again (after I explained that the $10 overdraft fee was MY MONEY and she needed to watch it more carefully). UGH. I'm about ready to take control of all her (my) money and make her have to call me each and every time she wants to spend some.

Happy Friday everyone!!!

Jessica - Holding the dumbell in front of your chest? One DB with two hands? I've been doing one per hand held down at my sides, but one in the center might balance better. Hm. I can't move my foot back and forth either, or things get ugly. :)

Allison - Ouch on DDs overdraft! I had a savings & checking account in college and had to call my parents if I needed money to mail me a check that I then had to deposit, or move my own money from savings. That way I got hit with the overdrafts on my own account. Don't know if you would want to go that route, but it taught me pretty fast not to bounce checks and to make sure the money was there...

Pat - sorry the weather is so bad, but I always say bad weather is much better when you are looking at it through the window at a conference than when you are looking at it through the window at work!

It is noon and I have already eaten my breakfast cereal, my banana and my baggie of dry cereal I brought for one of my afternoon snacks. And, still an hour away from lunch. Might be time for some tea...

Good run at the park yesterday, sore today so woke up for exercise but chose not to do it. Any excuse at 6:30 am! :)

Good day everyone!

I'm on the run but just popping in to say have a great weekend all!

Shannon - Yeah, I use one dumbbell that I hold with both hands. The lighter weights I was holding horizontally so that each hand was holding one of the weighted sides of the dumbell, but with the 25# one I hold it vertically with both hands holding up the top. I can imagine that it might be harder to balance with a pair of dumbbells -- I have trouble just doing lunges (:rofl: I typed "lunches" first!) with dumbbells.

I just ran to Wal Mart (which I firmly believe is one of Dante's levels of ****, by the way) to pick up a few things and got two nut blends by Sahale. One is a cashew/pineapple/peanut/lemongrass/mild chinese chili blend, one is almonds/dried apple/flax seeds/date/balsamic vinegar/red pepper. Oh my goodness. These things have to be out of my drawer before I eat ten servings of nuts today. Geez.

I just ran to Wal Mart (which I firmly believe is one of Dante's levels of ****, by the way) to pick up a few things and got two nut blends by Sahale. One is a cashew/pineapple/peanut/lemongrass/mild chinese chili blend, one is almonds/dried apple/flax seeds/date/balsamic vinegar/red pepper. Oh my goodness. These things have to be out of my drawer before I eat ten servings of nuts today. Geez.

Shannon, you MUST check out the website PeopleofWalmart.com. Hilarious!!! I loathe WalMart as well.

And take it easy on the Sahale blends! Those are SO yummy! I can't buy them because I can't stop eating them!

Allison - I had never seen them before today, and think my life would have been better if I had just kept walking... :dizzy: I was looking at the True North products for something new at work and they were right there... I got the Sing Buri and the Soledad, but wanted Valdosta, almond pb&j and cashew pomegranate, too. Glad I didn't get all five or I would have eaten all of my calories for the entire day right there! I saw the walmart page you mentioned earlier this week, pic with a burly guy in pink flannel and capris with his shirt tied up like daisy duke? Funny!

Got in a short workout tonight after the boys went to bed. 35 mins was all I had in me at 10pm! Of course, it could be why I'm still awake now...

Good night all!

I'm taking DH hiking in the Vivian forest today. Then I'm taking him to a movie, after we have a healthy dinner. One popcorn split between us at the movie and we both drink diet cola there so the bevvie is ok.

If I have to kick his "well-larded arse" (his own words) I'll kick! No holiday sulking allowed!

Dagmar :drill: :sklol:

Ok, if I see these nuts you are talking about, I will just keep walking! :p I had some chili lime almonds (forget who makes them but they were decent) in my desk at work - I didn't overdo it TOO badly with those, but having stuff there sometimes leads me to eating just because I can.

Dagmar, enjoy the holiday and good for you for not letting DH bring down the mood!

I'm currently in the process of planning all of my meals for the coming week - then I'll go to the store. Whenever I leave myself and inch of wiggle room in my intake, it quickly becomes a mile - so - back to CONSTANT VIGILANCE! :)

What is it, a month and a half till Thanksgiving? I've got lots of work to do.

Oh yeah Iris -avoid them at all costs! :) I'm 2.5 pounds up today over yesterday from the nuts and the salt! Eek!

I haven't done it yet, but I have the ingredients to make a rice pudding that was featured in the LA Times the other day. It's made with arborio rice, a banana and chopped pistachios. It sounded dreamy and the one reason I thought I could manage it is that it is to be chilled and I think I can manage small servings from it.

I've had a good weekend so far. This afternoon I'm loading more music into iTunes. I'm up to 80 gigs and have about 150 CD's left in my collection to upload. There have been a couple old ones that won't read, so I'll have to buy them and download them. After this we'll have a garage sale and hopefully get rid of all these disks! After that we'll only download our music.

Tomorrow we'll probably go see a movie. I'm sure DS wants to see Zombieland but Couples Therapy looks hilarious.

Howdy! I'm back home and sadly ready to make my own bed and clean my own bathroom and use a towel more than once. :lol: Conference was good, hotel was super!

Allison, I love the idea of downloading all your music. I take it you have speakers you can plug your iPod into? DH is technology impaired, and has no desire to move from CDs - in fact he bought a new tuner last year. We have a 5 CD player and that works for us, but the CDs themselves are taking over. :lol: I'm currently trying to figure out a way to store more, they're spilling off the shelves.

Iris - good idea to make a plan and removed the temptation for now.

Dagmar - Happy Thanksgiving! Hope your DH is in a better mood.

I just got my blood test results from my doctor. Mmmmpphhh. All my lipid panel numbers are up, in spite of my cleaner eating and increased exercise! He switched my cholesterol meds about 3 months ago, and I suspect that's the culprit, but the numbers were nearly back to where they were when I first went on meds. What's up with that! I have an appt with him on Tues morning, and I suspect I'll be back on my other meds....

Pat, that's frustrating about the meds. DH is thin and exercises, but still has to take a cholesterol lowering drug too. For some people, it's just genetics -- diet and exercise can help, but not fix the problem. Hopefully you'll get the meds situation straightened out and be back to your good numbers. :)

I officially survived my 11 day stretch of non-stop work and have a whole day off today! Yay!! Back to work tomorrow though. First up is the gym, then cleaning the house top to bottom. Throw in laundry, ironing, and catching up on bills, and I'm set for the day.

As of yesterday, I was down two pounds for the 11 days but DH and I had Chinese food last night (too burned out to cook) and the scale shot up three pounds overnight. That darned soy sauce effect! It sounds a lot like Shannon's nut effect. :lol:

Enjoy the last day of the weekend, everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving to Dagmar and all Canadians! :thanks2:

Yay Meg :cheer: on surviving the 11 day work stretch

happy canadian thanksgiving as well

rabbit

DH enjoyed our walk yesterday :). Today we go paddling :dance:! We haven't had the boats out since the August long weekend and this will probably be the last time this season.

Tonite DH is going to talk to his band mates and see if he can resolve the problem that's crept into their playing which is making him feel he has to quit.

I hope that will put him in a better mood :D for Monday.

My eating has been fine so far this weekend. I have had a few extra things (slice of sourdough bread, one beer:o) and I plan on having a piece of chocolate cake :devil: after our dinner tomorrow but that's it.

Dagmar :sklol:

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian maintenance buddies! :)

Well, I fell totally off the tracks this weekend... Candy, peanut butter covered pretzel crisps, fried chicken strips, texas toast, fries, pulled pork barbeque, chips and salsa yesterday, roast beef and apple crisp today. Wow. I think I ate 1000 cals over maintenance for the last two days... Eep. It all started to go off the tracks when I went to Publix and got a small mixed bag of Brach's candies from one of those 'pick your mix' displays and a bag of pb & chocolate coated pretzel crisps which I opened in the car. I realized quickly I couldn't control them and threw the rest of the bags away, then had the chicken fingers, toast and fries for dinner. I could have handled that meal in my plan without the craziness of earlier... I was down a this morning over yesterday, bet I won't see that same thing tomorrow! :eek:

Allison - the rice dish sounds great!

Meg - glad you made it through the working. I wouldn't have wanted to cook after all that either!

Pat - welcome home! Sorry about the meds... :(

Dagmar - glad you had a good weekend! Hope DH fixes his band problem!

Good night everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in Canada!

Shannon, that Brach's mix is sabotage in a bag!

This weekend one of my housemates and I did some serious cooking. I made a lasagna, which I'd planned, but she made a pear-apple-cranberry cobbler (don't ask how much butter... we pretended it was healthy cos of the fruit but that's a big fat LIE). Then I made buttermilk pancakes for brunch today (also planned) and she is currently making some kind of apple tart.

Both of us are at a decent weight but we are both trying to watch it and lose a few pounds... this may be a bit counterproductive!

Iris - I haven't made one of those Brach's mixes in years. DH & I were talking about it a few weeks ago, and when I saw the stand on Saturday I said "ooo, dark chocolate stars and peanut, I can get one star, three peanuts, be fine." Then I went to the milk chocolate side and said "One of these, one of these, that's okay." Next thing I knew I had several of the things I started out with just one of and had gone back to the dark chocolate side for more of those. My original plan would have worked just fine if I hadn't gotten pulled into the crazy... :dizzy:

Sounds like great tasting foods this weekend, but could be a little counterproductive for the weight loss. :) I doubt you did any permanent damage though. LOL.