Living Maintenance - Maintainers Chat: Week Of October 12 - 18

There were moments last week, in the middle of the 11-day work marathon, that I thought I wouldn't survive to start the weekly thread today. But yay, it's over and I'm still standing! :carrot: Ugh, I never want to do it again though, not even for time and a half. The worst part was all the days missed at the gym. Got to make up for them this morning!

This week's challenge is because I only had one day off, I spent it cleaning the house top to bottom and catching up with laundry. So I didn't have a chance to do my usual bulk cooking for the week. I'll get groceries when I'm done at the gym this morning and just have to plan, plan, plan. Fortunately the freezer is still pretty well stocked.

I'm dying to try butternut squash fries, prepared the same way as sweet potato oven fries. Has anyone made these? Any tips?

After the gym and groceries this morning, it's off to the doctor's to get an ingrown toenail dealt with. Double ugh. Then off to work. I may be wearing sandals! :lol: Hopefully whatever he does to my toe won't keep me out of the gym tomorrow. Worst case scenario: the exercise bike.

How were everyone's weekends? I sure hope you all had more of one than I did! :dizzy:

Thanks for getting the thread started, Meg, even though it's hard to remember that it's Monday during the three day weekend.

Congrats for surviving your work marathon without resorting to eating.

My maintenance triumph of the weekend was to turn down the FREE "Energy Drinks" being handed out at an outdoor Oktoberfest. They're just Kool-aid with caffeine but the young adults were grabbing them like they were the magic elixir of good health.

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Good morning, maintainers! It's raining cats and dogs again here today and I am feel like I might be catching a cold. It may have something to do with a certain 5 year old who has been coughing and sneezing all over me for the last week or so. I had planned to do two classes this morning but I think I might just do one.

On a happier note, I won a new pair of spin shoes on eBay last night! :woohoo:

I am celebrating Thanksgiving today. The big indulgence will be a piece of chocolate cake. The rest of the meal is well within low cal cooking parameters.

Congrats on getting through your work marathon Meg. I know I wouldn't have had the energy to clean the house on my day off (or the desire). Hope your exercise is back on track despite the toenail and that you get all your meal planning done.

Good job on turning down the energy drinks Bill. I found the two free samples I've tried at the supermarket were like cough syrup. I'd rather have a cup of good tea.

DH and I will go for another walk today. The kayaking was a disaster. We fight less on land it seems. I don't know how his meeting with the band went but he was up past 2 a.m. so I imagine it was not good.

It's sunny and bright here today so I will enjoy the holiday Monday, no matter what mood DH is in.

Have a great week all!

Dagmar :sklol:

Hi all,

I'm tired after working all weekend. Really, the "tired" part comes in b/c I was so tense much of the time with these people, but luckily (probably more for them than for me :p) everything went pretty smoothly for their sampling. There was a moment when I feared it would rain on us all day, the prof started whining about it, and I almost threw her off the boat, but we got past that. Did I mention I've told her repeatedly to bring rain gear and she never does? Just a few little incidents like that over the past 4 days. Anyway... I'm done with that now. Back to more pleasant work this week. I've got a book club meeting tonight, and chorus rehearsal tomorrow.

Friday night I had another one of my "food dreams." I dreamed about binging on cupcakes this time, cupcakes and quick breads with frosting of all kinds, and woke up feeling terribly guilty and thinking of cupcakes all weekend! It was funny and true-to-life that in the dream I kept eating and wasn't satisfied by any of them. I'd been thinking of having a higher calorie day and let myself have it Saturday, 2100 cals, but only healthy stuff, and I think that was a good idea and my body needed it. I worried that if I didn't let myself have the healthy stuff I would have a big binge on unhealthy stuff.

Meg, way to stay OP despite the busy schedule. I had an ingrown nail cut out by the doctor and she numbed me up so well I probably could have gone and run a 5K after the visit. But even after the numbing agent wore off my toe just felt so much better and I could work out with much less pain than before I'd gone to the doctor! As long as you can fit the wrappings in your workout shoes... Hungry girl raves about her recipe for butternut squash fries (http://www.hungry-girl.com/chew/chewdetails.php?isid=812), though I've never tried them.

Bill, I agree! Those energy drinks taste gross to me! My BF drinks them if he has a lot of early mornings, but I'd rather drink coffee in the AM for my caffeine. After that, I might drink one diet coke per month, or take a nap if I'm able! Have you read the labels? I don't know if those ingredients are found in nature!

Ward, congrats on the spin shoes! I hope they lead you to lots of calorie-burning spinning!

Dagmar, have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Have a great week everyone! :)

Good morning everyone. It is pouring down rain here, which fits nicely with my run down & irritable feeling from my overeating this weekend.... :( I talked about it a little in last weeks thread last night, it boiled down to bad for me meals and candy/pb&choc pretzels from the grocery store. I'm not too bothered by the meal choices, one was homemade pot roast at my MIL's house, but I am pretty annoyed with myself for getting out of control with the candy from the grocery store. I can recover from indulgences, but when I feel out of control it sometimes takes me a little time to get past it. I started the Brach's bag with the intention of just a couple of things, maybe two each of four different thing, and I should have recognized the danger when I kept putting more into the bag. It had already started feeling mindless in the acquisition of the candy, there was no way I was going to be able to shake the mindlessness with the eating... I did throw it & the pretzels away as soon as I came back to my senses.

Dagmar - Enjoy your holiday today! :hug:

Ward - congrats on the shoes! Hope you feel better, and that you stay dry in this mess! Water is already starting to leak into my office again... urgh.

Bill - I hate those energy drinks. I picked up a coffee one at the store this weekend and looked at the label, 400 calories in the container in my hand. And I'm sure people would buy it and drink the entire thing in a minute thinking it was okay for them because it said 'natural' on the label on the front. Good job passing them up!

Meg - I've had an ingrown toenail cut out, too, and my experience was like Megan's. You should be fine tomorrow as long as you can keep it clean and dry in your shoes. Hope it goes well!

Megan - weird dream about the cupcakes. It is interesting that they didn't satisfy you in the dream. Did the higher calorie Saturday help?

Good day everyone!

Good morning everyone! It's cloudy with a chance of rain here. I don't think we'll even get into the 80's. Brrr!

I woke up this morning at about 1:30 and never got back to sleep and finally got up at 4:30 to exercise which only rewarded me with a headache when it was all over. Due to the lack of sleep, I was starving and really overate at breakfast (2 servings instead of one plus 2 handfuls of cereal). ugh

Pat~from the past thread, I do have speakers for my iPod here at work and I love it. At home we have some cables that hook the iPod directly into our stereo. I still have about 100 disks to download and then I need to tackle the Christmas music (I think I have 20 or so disks in that category). It's really slow going, but I hope to finish in a few weeks. It will be really nice getting rid of all the CDs--then we'll have more room to store all the DVDs we've been accumulating!

Energy drinks are horrible! My friend drinks one every afternoon. I look at it like a waste of calories (like soda) and a waste of my tastebuds. I agree--a nice cup of tea or coffee is much more welcome!

Well, I need to get to work. Take care everyone.

:thanks2: Happy Thanksgiving to the Canadians!

Meg, glad you made it through! I hope the toenail doesn't hurt too much.

Dagmar, sorry the kayaking didn't work out. Hopefully today will be better!

Shannon: "I did throw it & the pretzels away as soon as I came back to my senses." THIS is the difference between maintenance and weight gain! Great job throwing it away.

Megan, I'm glad to hear the researchers weren't too irritating.

Bill, I don't get energy drinks either. Maybe if people spent more time sleeping and less time overworking themselves they wouldn't need energy drinks. :p

Ward, I hope you feel better soon! Is it bad that I sometimes think I wouldn't mind getting sick because then I could take a sick day? :p

Allison, make sure you have a comprehensive backup scheme in place before you toss all your CD's.

I had my one "cheat" meal this weekend at a steakhouse. DH and I had planned to go out after going to the symphony, and when we were discussing where to go the day before I was like, "I want a big fat steak." :lol: He had done the shopping the previous week and neglected to buy any meat for the second week in a row. Not that I have anything against vegetarian meals, but a whole week without even some chicken left me craving it (well, that and TOM always makes me crave red meat). In any case I bought quite a lot of chicken for this coming week when I was at the grocery store!

Yesterday I went swimming in the morning. I'd planned to ride my bike to the apple orchard to go apple picking in the afternoon, but then I decided I wanted to roast a chicken for dinner which meant I didn't have the extra time that the bike ride would have taken, so I drove to the orchard instead. Man, that place was a zoo! People were having fights in the parking lot about getting blocked in! I got my apples and got out as quickly as possible.

Allison, make sure you have a comprehensive backup scheme in place before you toss all your CD's.



Jessica~right now I have a backup on one of DS's old external hard drives. He wants a copy of it, so I'll give him a copy on his 1 terabyte (sp?) external hard drive. I'm going to go out and get myself a 1 terabyte hard drive as well so I can also store my photos on it. I bought DH a 1 terabyte hard drive when he got his Canon Rebel camera because he didn't have enough room on his computer to store the photos. I think having 2 copies myself, plus my DS having a copy will be insurance enough!

Good afternoon maintainers!!:)

I'm hoping to be able to get back to normal this week and get back on this thread routinely.

Jessica-- yum on the steak! I know what you mean about craving red meat once in awhile. I'm not sure when the last time was I had any red meat.

Shannon-- you did great throwing away the candy and stuff. I know what you mean about mindlessly buying and eating food and then coming to your senses. Thank goodness you did come to your senses.:hug::carrot:

Funny dream Megan! I am going to send designer cupcakes to my best friend for her birthday. I've had such a hard time deciding what to send her. She will be 42 and has a severely autistic son (12) and daughter (10). She recently found out she is pregnant. She has plenty of money so she indulge in massages, pedicures, etc. So..... I bought a cookbook for her for fast and easy meals and I bought a cute baking kit that comes with a baking kit. I found a place where she lives (Houston) that does amazing looking cupcakes and I'm going to have them delivered.

Happy Thanksgiving Dagmar!! I have a question for you. What do Canadians eat for Thanksgiving traditionally? I'm wondering if the foods are similar to what we Americans eat. I hope the walk goes better for you than the kayaking did.:hug:

WardHog-- enjoy your shoes! I'm still using regular shoes for spinning at this point. I hope you feel better.

Bill-- I've never tried the energy drinks and don't plan to. I thought they were calorie free and just had caffeine in them. What do they have that adds calories to them?

Meg-- I hope your toe surgery is minor and you feel much better afterwards. I also worked a huge number of days straight-- I can't remember how many... I had Saturday off but I still went to school to work for a few hours. Now that I think about it I have a huge number of days in a row to work actually as I'm working all week plus Saturday and Sunday... hmmm..... great.....:blah:

I am done with my book fair and can't wait to get back to normal. Unfortunately my daughter caught a stomach virus and was very sick this weekend. I caught a minor version of it and am trying to suffer through. I'm still hoping to go to the gym today but I have a killer headache. My weight was *almost* too low this morning. It was 121 which I haven't ever seen. When my weight is low I tend to sabotage myself by telling myself I better eat or I'll be too thin and then I go the other direction! So, I'm going to try to just keep to my food and exercise routine and let the weight gradually go back up. I realize that the tummy thing probably knocked some weight off....

I have a project to get to. Talk to everyone later!!

Wow, busy thread already this week! I'm just going to pop in for now - something started bugging my stomach while I was running tonight and I've been in and out of the bathroom since... ick.

Happy Thanksgiving Dagmar and any other Canadian chicks here!

Michele IMHO Canadians are basically somewhat subdued Americans :p (some people would kill me for that).

We eat what you eat for all the holidays, with some regional differences like you have.

Dagmar :sklol:

Dagmar, we are all North Americans after all.

Twice I've had something happen and lost my post.

Dagmar - LOL :)

Iris - hope you feel better!

Michele - DH drinks diet energy drink, Rockstar maybe? It has 20 calories per can, the regular has 280. Sugars and such I think.

Allison - I couldn't give up my CDs even after putting them all on my hard drive. The transfer didn't always sound as good, plus the playback on the iPod wasn't always consistent. Are you using the lossless transfer? DH wants the 160 GB iPod classic for just that reason.

Jessica - you don't expect that much drama in the parking lot at an apple orchard. Funny!

I had a better day yesterday. Got my exercise in, ate well, got to bed on time and slept better. Hope this week stays on track.

Good day everyone!

Shannon~I don't know what transfer I'm using. I certainly can't determine any difference in what I'm hearing (CD vs iPod), but then I'm no audiophile, either.

Yesterday's headache and lack of sleep must have caused my jawas to over compensate and my scale flashed a horrible number at me this morning. Time to buckle down.

Allison - I'm not an audiophile either, wouldn't hear it on my own on normal transfers if DH didn't point it out. :dizzy: I can hear the difference between a CD and good quality vinyl on my own now, though.

Okay, now I have to ask -- what are your local Thanksgiving traditions?

Here in Indianapolis the major regional traditional dish is persimmon pudding (made with the native persimmons, not the Asian kind). When I was a kid our family's traditional dish was grasshopper pie (which I have brought with me to Indy). Also DH's family has a tradition of doing a prayer and/or saying what you are thankful for before the meal. I think that is pretty common but growing up we never did (my family is totally secular, so no prayers).

Shannon, I know right? Who gets into fights at an apple orchard? :?:

Speaking of funny dreams, I had one last night. I had kind of a stomach ache when I went to bed since I had eaten dinner too fast (see the take 5 thread for details), which I think triggered it. In my dream, I was pregnant, and I was at the hospital waiting in line to go into the delivery room. For some reason it was in order of when you had arrived, and there wasn't really any labor going on. I was laying on a bed and I was really uncomfortable because I had this huge belly and it was aching. DH told me I should get up and walk around and it would make me feel better, but when I managed to roll over and get myself out of the bed it just hurt more. Then I actually woke up and rolled over and was surprised that I didn't have an enormous stomach. :lol:

I think I'll add that dream to the file of biological clock dreams I've been having lately. I keep dreaming about being pregnant, even though I don't actually want to have kids at the moment. I guess my subconscious is trying to tell me something. :p

Morning all! I had my doc's appt this morning, and as expected he changed my meds back to the original. Otherwise he was very happy, esp as my weight was down 5# from July when I saw him last. :) I have to go back next week to have a mole removed.

I'm currently on a conference call which is pretty boring..... but I guess I'd better listen a little more closely as they're asking for input. :lol:

Yesterday's headache and lack of sleep must have caused my jawas to over compensate and my scale flashed a horrible number at me this morning. Time to buckle down.

I thought the weigh-ins on Biggest Loser were overly dramatic but no. Sometimes when I get on the scale Monday morning I can almost hear the music as the numbers blink and blink and then . . . AIIIGGHHH!!!

My jawas are still twitching from their overdose of chocolate cake. Single pieces weren't available so I bought an entire small cake. I had to save :devil: DH from himself :rofl: and "help" him eat it.

Dagmar :sklol:

I can't think of any local Thanksgiving traditions, but there is a type of cookie that my mom used to make every year for Thanksgiving - "ginger creams" - which are cakey ginger cookies with a creamy vanilla frosting... they are my favorite cookies ever. I'm glad I'll be home for Thanksgiving this year - although I've been making them myself when I can't get home anyway!

Hi all,

Yesterday wasn't so great. I was out doing field work and my energy just dragged all day (my co-worker pointed out this was my 9th straight day of work - but Meg's still got me beat!). We got in late, and I had planned to go to the gym and then chorus rehearsal. I decided to go home and eat dinner instead, I just couldn't face the gym. Bad idea, b/c I over-ate. I tried to get some extra sleep when I got home from rehearsal. Hopefully I'll be better today.

I don't think my family had so much "local" traditions as our own. We did/do usually all go around the table and say what we're thankful for. Dad makes his really delicious from scratch pies the day before, and we always end up with 4 or 5 pies for 4 or 5 people. They do the turkey, stuffing, green beans (no casserole for us, no one cares for it) and my sis and I would always fight over the canned yams with marshmallows on top. I didn't like the sweet potatoes so I would only eat the marshmallows. Turns out I just don't like the canned syrup, but now as adults we make more of a baked sweet potato casserole w/o the marshmallows anyway. We're not often all together for Thanksgiving, but this is pretty much what we do for Christmas as well, so we go through the same routine then. Oh, of course at Christmas we have The Fat Table too.

Michele, I hope you recover quickly! Yeah I think in my dream the cupcakes weren't satisfying... I actually have had binge dreams before like this (it's always cake or cookies or something sweet) several weeks into staying POP and trying to lose weight, therefore forsaking all sugary things b/c they mess with my blood sugar so badly. It sounds like you've got a nice gift planned for your friend.

Dagmar, I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving! Yes, they do make the BL weigh-ins dramatic, but sometimes my own are too!

Pat, you're supposed to pay attention on conference calls? Who knew? A few months ago my boss & I were on one and we heard a toilet flushing - how hilariously inappropriate!

Shannon, I'm glad you got some good sleep. It makes the world seem much better.

Jessica, your DH's shopping habits sound similar to a lot of men I know. What is it with men being unable to complete a simple shopping trip? :dizzy: I think they do it on purpose so we won't ask them to shop anymore! (Sorry, men out there - prove me wrong!)

I've got to get some work done... have a good "hump" day all!

I certainly can't think of any local traditions but there are some family traditions--my Mom makes pies, and we always have an assortment to choose from: crumb-top apple, pecan, mince, chocolate walnut, pumpkin and sometimes more. Of course my Dad could never decide so he'd have small slices of at least three of them. Now that I have Thanksgiving at my house, it is up to me to do the pie assortment. The only problem is that there are too many leftovers!

My in-laws return today!

The jawas are back in order and the scale is appreciative.

We have a huge gathering at my grandma's every year at Thanksgiving - usually 50-60 people. And there's always at least one full table of desserts in addition to the turkey(s), ham, chicken and dumplings, two or three kinds of dressing, sweet potatoes, scalloped potatoes ...

DH and I have gone to our next door neighbors for most holiday dinners the past 10 years. They have a huge blended family (her 3 DDs, his DS, their DD) all of whom have children, and several of them grandchildren (our neighbors great-grandchildren). Two years ago I counted 5 or 6 under 3! It's a noisy place. :) Anyway, they serve pretty a pretty traditional dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, various other vegs, salad, and lots of pies. They also have appetizers out all day ranging from nuts to shrimp. It can be a real minefield. :) I always try to eat something around noon when we're going there for a 2 or 3 pm dinner. No one really notices what/if you eat, so that usually works for me.

Megan - I was listening well enough to know whether the part of the agenda we were on applied to me. :) Hope you've got more energy today.

I had a city council meeting last night that ran from 6 - 11 pm :faint: I got home around 11:20 and fell into bed, but couldn't go to sleep. My mind was still wound up, and I couldn't get warm. All I can figure is that I usually am in bed by 10 or earlier, and my body had cooled down on schedule. :lol: I did sleep til nearly 7:30, and came into work about 9:30 which helped.

My big excitement for the morning has been a "rehearsal" of singing Yellow Submarine for a staff member's birthday tomorrow. It's her 65th, and we usually go all out for the "big" years (40, 50, etc). I've been instructed that we're to wear yellow, and there are pirate hats involved. I see the crafty hand of my children's librarian involved here!

Pat, that birthday celebration sounds fun!

I have a horrible headache (TOM-induced I'm sure) and am trying to beat down my rabid jawas... not too bad so far. Although I did grab a sweetbread along with my coffee during my mid-afternoon slump and that's really the equivalent of a piece of cake. Factored it in as 300 calories and moving on - hopefully will still be within range (1800) for the day.

All of your holiday pie talk is worrisome... here comes the holiday season and I'm not ready to face the temptations!

I'm going to stay away from the scale until after the big reunion with my high school people.

I find the number on the scale really determines my mood, despite all the rationalizing :dizzy: I do. If it's a higher number I will feel self-conscious :o at the reunion.

I am eating properly though, for maintenance. I know exactly how much I can consume to stay below 135 and that's what I'll be doing until next Friday the 23rd. And beyond.

Hypnotism assessment tonite - should be interesting. Had a hectic week so I'll probably be :tired: enough to go right under.

I'm assuming she's not going to make me bark like a dog -:p- although in my line of work that could come in handy.

Dagmar :sklol:

Dagmar - :lol: at the barking like a dog! I got hypnotized once, they said that a person couldn't be hypnotized to do something that was against their basic moral code or that they would never do. I never thought I was the type of person to participate in a group dancing in front of 100 people to YMCA, but I guess I was! :) Good luck with it.

Iris - Hope you feel better today. How did the rest of your day go?

Pat - the birthday celebration does sound fun, though pirate hats on a submarine? Interesting! :dizzy:

We usually go to my grandmother's or to DH's cousins house for Thanksgiving. Both places have the ham, turkey, assorted sides, etc. My grandmother's house usually has loads of desserts (my aunt makes a Mud Cake with marshmallows and chocolate and pecans and so much sugar you can feel the grains on your teeth when you chew), a smoked ham, chicken and dumplings, lots of fresh veggies from my grandfather's garden. DH's cousin is more honey baked ham, macaroni and cheese, some veggies and only one or two desserts. This year though, we are hosting the gathering at our house... EEP. I'm already having a hard time with the planning. So far I've come up with buying a Cumberland Gap ham and baking it, making some green beans, butterbeans, creamed corn and peas (veggies I have in my freezer from Granddaddy's garden, and roasting some assortment of fresh veggies. Was thinking about the strawberry cheesecake bites, have to come up with some other desserts. Might try the apple crisp recipe. I want to keep it as healthy as I possibly can.

Got my exercise in last night while the boys were in the bath. Had to cut a little short, but I figured better an abbreviated workout than no workout! :) Came in just over the wire with my food. Considering I was almost at my calorie limit for the day at 2:30 I think I did a good job!

Good day everyone!

I'm sensing a theme in everyone's Thanksgiving meals... that theme is DESSERT! You know, I just thought about my BF's family's Thanksgivings. They might have a pie, store-bought... not a big deal. And they're all "naturally" slender. Huh. Coincidence?

Yesterday I chipped my front bottom tooth on a fork. It's just a teensy tiny chip on the side that you wouldn't notice unless you were really looking for it, I found it by feeling the sharp edge with my tongue. I don't think a chip so small couldn't expose the center of my tooth to decay and all, but the whole thing made me anxiety-ridden about the fact that I live in such a rural area, have been recommended against using the local dentist, and what the heck would I do if I truly had a dental emergency? Medical emergency? I never realized I have such trust issues with doctors I haven't known since childhood, b/c I knew all of my doctors and dentists from childhood on. Anyway I was all stressed about it all afternoon. I need to take a chill pill! (Note I didn't let my anxiety stop me from eating OP or getting a good workout in, pat on the back Megan).

Also I'm waging war on the ants that have invaded my car. Again. Grrr.

Dagmar, sounds like you've got a good plan to stay away from the scale. It can be a useful tool but sometimes it just drives one crazy. :dizzy:

Pat, ha, I love it. We usually wear sombreros for birthdays in my office.

I'm counting the minutes to the weekend. We're almost there! Feed those jawas well everyone!

Megan - dessert is definitely a theme at holiday gatherings with my family! Last year I actually went very low on the real food and ate small pieces of several desserts instead... :o It was my first 'maintaining' holiday and I decided what I really wanted was the dessert, so I went with it! Don't know if I would got hat route again this year or not... And it is hard to find medical providers even in a larger area - I come from a small town where I went to the same dentist, doctor and pharmacist my entire life. It has been weird for me finding one here that makes me feel comfortable. :high: on the workout and the OP eating!

Hi everyone! Thanks for sharing your Thanksgiving traditions. :) For me, Thanksgiving isn't Thanksgiving unless it has turkey, cranberry sauce, and grasshopper pie. Everything else is negotiable. For DH, there must be turkey, stuffing, pecan pie, and persimmon pudding.

It's funny because my family is a bunch of dessert nuts, but for Thanksgiving we never had that much. We always had grasshopper pie, but that was all. If we had a lot of people, we had TWO grasshopper pies. Christmas, on the other hand, is a multi-day dessert festival! DH's family Thanksgiving has persimmon pudding and at least five pies (pumpkin, apple, pecan, cherry, etc). They also usually have two types of stuffing.

Megan, I know the feeling! I've been going to DH's family dentist for the past three years and I still don't trust him. I went to the same dentist from when I was about seven up until I graduated from college. Doctors on the other hand I didn't really have consistantly. It took me a while to find a good doctor here but I finally have one I like.

Why is it not 5:00 yet? :p My work motivation today is severely lacking. Maybe because I can't do anything else until these tests finish running, and they're going to take another hour at least.

I'm sensing a theme in everyone's Thanksgiving meals... that theme is DESSERT! You know, I just thought about my BF's family's Thanksgivings. They might have a pie, store-bought... not a big deal. And they're all "naturally" slender. Huh. Coincidence?

This explains everything!!

BTW I chipped one of my teeth -just a teeny bit like it sounds like you did - awhile ago (last spring I think) and still no complications. I haven't been to a dentist since but I really should, I suppose!

Yesterday I ended up munching half the night while studying... I wanted to spread things out on the kitchen table but being that close to the fridge was NOT a good idea!

Today had some chocolate to soothe TOM and am DONE for the night. I mean it tonight!

So interesting about all the pies. I hadn't realised they are often so important. I suppose, in the early days, women brought their very best piece of baking to offer and share and it grew from that.

Now I've read this thread, I'm starting to understand what a challenge Thanksgiving can be. Americans, good luck! :hug: Canadians, well done!

Jessica - I was going to ask what grasshopper pie is but I googled it. Gee whiz. Sometimes with marshmallows rather than gelatine? Crikey. :)

I love 3FC for all kinds of reasons but one of the main ones is the variety of people, opinions and lifestyles. I'm always learning. :cool:

Wowee on the pies! And yes, it makes sense that people who love dessert and eat it all the time might be more prone to weight gain.

My family isn't that into dessert and we are mostly moderately overweight. DH's family has the meal as a prelude and then eats dessert after dessert until they are all gone. His immediate family is all morbidly obese, with him being the only "just obese" one.

Dessert that satisfies tends to be really calorie/sugar/fat laden most times. And I find the more sugar I eat the more I want.

Somehow it's so hard to turn away from a pie and take a piece of fruit. Most of the time there isn't the option.

What do you all do if there are only high-cal desserts, most of which have been home-made as tokens of love and to show off the maker's baking skills?

Dagmar :sklol: :badbat:

I couldn't lurk any longer - the topic of desserts is just too tempting! I can usually resist the pies and cakes, as the majority are too sweet for me. Something rich and savory and NOT sweet, though ... like a dark chocolate flourless torte? I'm toast. DH makes a pecan/bourbon/sweet potato pie that kills me, and he's already vowed to make it for Thanksgiving. Best strategy I've got is to take over the serving of the dessert - take a very small piece, and then hightail it into the kitchen and start working on the dishes. I can usually get everything at least rinsed off and stacked or in the dishwasher by the time the dessert is devoured - so I guess it's avoidance. This will be my first holiday season at the lower weight ... and it will be a minefield of saboteurs.

Silver, my family's grasshopper pie recipe involves a chocolate cookie crust, and the filling is made with melted marshmallows, whipped cream, creme de menthe, and creme de cacao. There's no baking involved -- the crust is just cookie crumbs and melted butter, which you freeze, and the filling is just those things mixed together and frozen. It is absolutely delicious, luckily I only make it once a year!

I'm annoyed at my MIL this week. I need to know what our thanksgiving plans are so I can order a turkey if necessary, because if we (meaning DH's family) are hosting it, I want to get a humanely raised pastured turkey. She says, yes, go ahead and order a turkey, but she doesn't know yet if we are going to have 8 people or 16 people at dinner. :faint: I need to know how big of a turkey we need! She always plans things at the last minute and it drives me nuts. She also always leaves us these ridiculous 10-minute-long phone messages. Instead of calling DH at work on his cell to tell him the two things she wants to say, she calls our home phone and leaves a message like this: "Hi guys, I was calling to leave you a message while you are at work. The pumpkin store we talked about is open. [five minutes of talking about how they carry multiple sizes and types of pumpkins at different prices, which is totally not important] Also, there was a two for one sale on 10-lb bags of potatoes at the grocery store so I bought two, but I can't use them all so DON'T BUY ANY POTATOES and you can have one of the bags. [five more minutes of talking about potatoes]."

So now apparently we get a 10-lb bag of potatoes. I almost never cook potatoes. Last time we bought a bag half of it sprouted before we could use it. I told DH she should give the potatoes to his grandma instead, because they are both meat-and-potatoes type of chefs whereas I am definitely not.

Sigh. I guess if the worst thing my MIL does is leave me long rambling phone messages and delay planning Thanksgiving I'm pretty lucky. ;)

Jessica, I totally feel your pain. My BF doesn't plan...anything... if I try to, say, make plans for the coming weekend he'll say something like "oh let's just see what happens" or something else totally noncommittal. I get frustrated b/c sometimes this means we don't end up doing things that would have been fun b/c we didn't plan for them, like go to social gatherings. Doesn't the world understand? There are reasons we need to plan these things!!!! (Good example: needing to know what size turkey to buy!) We don't ask just for fun!

Right now my mom is frustrated by the fact that she's trying to make plans for Christmas and my sister won't tell her anything. My sis & your MIL would get along!

I did forget about cranberries for Thanksgiving! I think those are the musts: turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin in some form. My mom makes a delicious raw cranberry relish where you wiz up a bag of cranberries, an orange, walnuts, and sugar in the food processor. I buy extra bags of cranberries and freeze them to make it off-season, with splenda. Yum!

Not to distract from the dessert topic, but Megan, I can commiserate with you and the ants! I went out to the garage this morning to feed the dogs and before I noticed them, I opened the dog food bin. They were all over the outside of the bin and once opened they poured in. I was able to salvage enough for their breakfasts, but had to throw out the remainder. Now I'll have to go home and wash both bins before I open a new bag of food for them. What a mess! I imagine the trail of ants was a good 15 feet long! From the garage door, under my car, all the way up to where the back door is. I sprayed and sprayed and I'm sure I've sealed up all the nooks and crannies where they might find a new way in, but ugh. I HATE ANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And my weight is not cooperating. Ugh. In general, this is shaping up to be an overall ugh day.

Tonight we're driving to Fullerton to see DD's concert (and deliver her bicycle and her vacuum which DH fixed for her--don't kids know you have to clean a vacuum from time to time?). DS decided he's going to skip the concert and go to the high school football game. We allowed him to do it as long as he was sure he had a ride home (it's about 6 miles away). He assured me he does, but I left him with enough money that he can call a cab just in case. He promised he'd keep his cell phone on and text me when he gets home. Can you tell he's my baby?

Jessica~I had to laugh at the story of your MIL's phone message! Too funny!

Dagmar, I forgot to answer your question. At family holiday meals, where there is a huge dessert table, I just plan for that meal to be a splurge. I cut down on the amount of food I take for dinner (so for T-day I'll have maybe a pile of green beans and a small portion of turkey and cranberry sauce) then I have one small piece of each of the desserts -- which adds up to a big plate full of dessert. But hey, it's holi-DAYS not holi-MONTHS so I only do it a couple times a year.

Megan, MIL makes a good cranberry relish like that too! I totally get you about Christmas too. I just bought my plane tickets for Christmas at the beginning of this week, but my sister hasn't really made plans yet. Actually last I heard my sis will be in town for xmas rather than going to her fiancee's home in Nebraska, and then they're planning to go to Nebraska in the spring instead. I'm super excited about going home in December! And since my sis lives in the area now, that means we don't all have to stay in the same house. Phew! I love my family, but we are incapable of all living in the same house. It's hard enough to stay there with just my parents, but when all four of us are in the house, it's a disaster.

Allison, :lol: I wasn't sure whether to laugh at the phone message or be annoyed by it! I kind of did both. She seriously spent like 10 minutes on a message that could have been shortened to: "Pumpkin store is open. I have an extra bag of potatoes for you."

More snacking today. Again, all good foods from my drawer, just too many of them. And, it is windy and cold and drizzly so I don't think I'll go to the park to run on the way home. I'll still exercise when I get home, but I feel kind of bummed about not making the park, because I know I won't make it tomorrow either... Sadness.

Haha, Jessica I love the phone message. I guess the up side is at least she doesn't call when you are home and keep rambling for an hour or so!

We had a potluck at work today... it really wasn't that bad but I know I'm going to end up going over my calories for today because I still have to eat dinner AND go to a B-day party where we are making caramel apples! So much better than cake and ice cream!

Wah!! I've missed you guys this week! I was so sure I'd be able to check in and then my wireless went out. We had a lot of rain this week and an earthquake so I don't know if one or both of those things killed it. It had been on the fritz but it died completely. I just successfully installed a new wireless router. Pretty proud of myself as dh usually assumes he has to do those sort of things.

All the talk of Thanksgiving is making me hungry and making me realize I need to start cleaning my house! No idea what we'll be having but we always have the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, dressing, cranberry sauce, etc. Dh loves to cook Thanksgiving dinner and I usually do the sides and desserts so I can make them somewhat healthy.

For those of you with spouses/partners who cook or clean at any time (even if it's just at holidays), give thanks!

Dagmar :badbat:

Wow, now I want about 10 different pies!
For about 10 years, we did both Canadian Thanksgiving and American (dh is Canadian, now naturalized US), and still do Hanukkah and Christmas. A very mixed marriage. And an eating minefield for over two months!
Luckily, other than all the aforementioned pies and latkes, our food is basically low cal and healthy!

Mel

Good morning! I'm more settled today, so can actually take a minute to respond to the posts! :)

Jessica - funny phone message from your MIL! My grandmother does the same thing... Then when you call her back she tells you the same story again. :dizzy:

Mel - that is a lot of holiday celebrating! Wow!

Michele - :high: on the router install!

Iris - caramel apples instead of cake, that is a cool idea! I've been thinking about buying a caramel apple kit to do with DSS, think a 4 year old can handle one?

Allison - I can't remember how many times my dad had to fix my vacuum in college, and it was always because I let hair get tangled on some motor part because I didn't clean it out. :( Annoying about the ants! Hope the smell clears out of your garage soon.

Megan - I have never eaten a cranberry product at Thanksgiving... until this year I had never eaten cranberry anything, now I've had craisins, cranberry muffins and cranberry juice. Since I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year I may have to try your mom's recipe!

I can't find the post where someone said that they eat a light lunch and then slivers of several desserts... that is exactly what I do. And, in the mood I'm in right now, will likely do again! :)

I tried to go to the park to run last night, but by the time I got there it was 49 degrees, the wind had picked up and it had started to rain. I came home and made myself exercise in the garage. It wasn't one of those 'glad I forced myself to do it' days. More like 'I feel like a wet, balled up washcloth left on the side of the tub' afterward. No exercise so far today, I'm planning it for this afternoon or evening. Really. :)

Good day everyone! :wave: to anyone I missed!

[quote=Shannon in ATL;2974457



Megan - I have never eaten a cranberry product at Thanksgiving... until this year I had never eaten cranberry anything, now I've had craisins, cranberry muffins and cranberry juice. Since I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year I may have to try your mom's recipe!

![/quote]

Never had cranberries at Thanksgiving ? You do live in the US don't you ?
Cranberries are as prominent as turkey at Thanksgiving.

Shannon, I think caramel apples should be ok for a 4- year old, I guess just make sure he's careful and doesn't burn himself making them!

This thread is turning into some serious food porn, though!

Shannon, does that mean you have never had cranberry sauce??? :fr: The recipe on the back of the ocean spray cranberries package is pretty good. I admit I still have a soft spot in my heart for the ocean spray canned jellied cranberry sauce, which comes out shaped like the can. Love that stuff.

Mel, I grew up with both Hannukah and Christmas, but I don't think I could handle two Thanksgivings! :lol:

Today I took DH shopping for winter running gear. He ended up spending $380 at the running store. :fr: :o But it's good because it will keep him fit this winter, and next winter, and the winter after that... He tested it out this afternoon (it was about 42 degrees out). I had picked out two layers for him because I would have worn that much in this weather, but he was too hot! He was comfy with just the one long-sleeved shirt, no hat or gloves.

That does mean I have never had cranberry sauce. I had a list of foods I didn't eat, and the cranberry was on the list.

Bargoo - I was surrounded by cranberry sauce at holiday gatherings, I just avoided it. Looking forward to trying it this year. Something else I didn't try until just a few years ago... Apple pie. When DH found out he said the same thing you did about the cranberry sauce. :)

Jessica - I remember the jellied cranberry sauce, it always looked weird to me. I wonder if that was why I avoided cranberries... :dizzy:

I need better winter running gear... Went out this afternoon in a thin sweatshirt over a long sleeved running shirt & long tights under shorts. I just can't wear those tight pants without shorts over them... :eek: Took the sweatshirt off and tied it around my waist after about 20 minutes. Oh yeah, I also had on an Old Navy fleece cap with the ball on top. Everything was different colors - purple & gray sweatshirt, pink & white top, black pants, forest green shorts, baby blue cap. I'm sure I looked fabulous! ;)

Iris - definitely turning into food porn, yes... At least the week is almost over and we'll start clean! :)

So I'm upstairs talking to my grandmother on the phone a few minutes ago, DH is downstairs watching the GA Tech game... I hear yelling, some applause, then a tinkling noise. I step into the hall and ask if everything is okay and hear "I think I broke the ceiling fan..." He apparently hit the pull chain on the fan as he was gesturing, the finial on it swung up and hit the globe of the fan and broke the glass. His mom used to put away the breakables during major sporting events... Who knew I would need to put away the ceiling fan!?! :lol:

Good night everyone!

Hmm ... I am planning a run tomorrow morning and I'm not sure what I'll wear. It's supposed to start at about 36, so maybe full length running tights and one long-sleeved layer on top. I am afraid I'll be hot, too, except my hands and face will be freezing. Anything lower than about 26 sends me inside to the treadmill. :devil:

Oh, man - it was over 90 for my run this morning - yeesh! I got a teaser of decent temps last week and now we're back to summer.

So I tried telling myself that I didn't need to weigh in every week :dizzy: or write down what I was eating.

And those Halloween candies :devil: wouldn't end up as extra weight either.

The result of letting my maintenance lapse was that it lapsed - gained 4 lbs. in 2 weeks :tantrum:. This weight loss/ maintenance business really is a life-long commitment. Sigh.

Back to business today. Taking my cousin's kids to the movies. Popcorn for them - pretzels brought from home for me.

And I'll be "fat" at the reunion on Friday. That's my pattern and I haven't suceeded at breaking it :(. Realistically 4 lbs. do not make such a difference but I can now use them as an excuse to chicken out and not go at all. Or to go and sit in the corner.

Funny how even if you know you're lapsing into a pattern or bad habit sometimes the behaviour is too strongly ingrained to break. I'm curious to see if the hypnosis will give me a new tool to break the old patterns.

I'm getting really tired of the old patterns. And frustrated :tantrum: at myself for maintaining them. There's so much useful information for living our best lives out there - it's just too hard to sort through it all sometimes to find what we need for our individual selves.

Time to go lift some weights!

Have a great Sunday all!

Dagmar :sumo:

Dagmar, that's a lesson that I've had to relearn myself a few times on this journey. :hug: Yep, maintenance takes constant vigilance and for a lot of us, that means continuing to track what we eat and daily weighing. It's easy to pretend that oh, we already know what we're eating so no need to write it down, and gee, we don't want to get obsessed by the scale so let's not weigh in -- and then poof, before we know it, we've packed on a bunch of bonus pounds. Our capacity for self-deception can be pretty amazing, can't it? :dizzy:

OK, better to find out about the weight gain now, while it's only four pounds and not a whole lot worse! You know what to do and you've got a good plan for the day. :high:

Sure, the old patterns and behaviors will always be there, but you've come a long way in building new behaviors and habits to replace the old ones. I think a lot of us are surprised and disappointed to discover that our old issues aren't cured and tend to always be there, lurking beneath the surface. But you already have the tools and strategies to defeat all those old, destructive patterns and issues. So long as we make our choices mindfully and thoughtfully, we can escape the old, destructive patterns and habits.

Back in the fat days and when I was losing weight, I imagined what life would be like at goal. And I always thought (though I'm not sure why!) that I would be a different person with a different relationship with food once I lost all the weight. It was scary at first to discover that I'm exactly the same person with exactly the same issues with food that I ever was, until I realized that I know how to deal with those issues. So what if my knee-jerk response to stress is to want to eat? My brain tells me that it won't fix the situation and in fact, will make it worse and that exercise is a lot better strategy for de-stressing. I don't have to give in to that first, instinctive response. I've created a better response. So even though I'm still a fat chick in a normal body, I have an awesome arsenal of tools, habits, and strategies to overcome all the old, bad patterns and habits!

And Dagmar, so do you!

Happy Sunday, gang! I hope everyone is having a lovely, restful weekend. After working 15 out of 17 days, I actually have a weekend and am starting to catch up. Today I plan to do a lot of bulk cooking: bean soup, butternut squash fries, grilled shrimp, grilled salmon, hummus, and a leg of lamb dinner tonight for the boys (not my thing, I'll have fish). :T

Meg Bonus pounds :rofl: - love it! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for the guidance. You always have the right response for everyone!

Dagmar

This weight loss/ maintenance business really is a life-long commitment. Sigh.

Yes, but the rewards can be a lifelong joy, also.

No food has ever given me the "high" that being able to slide into small clothes, look good in a skimpy dress, do HANDSTANDS, pull a clean, super heavy dead lift, and do unassisted pull ups have. Of course, the food hasn't made me as sore as the pull ups, either!

Hang in ther. We all have the tools, and we need to use them in that millisecond when the thought first crosses our minds. Once you start an internal discussion or argument, you've lost.

Mel

Mel, David Kessler (in The End Of Overeating) talks about the need to short circuit the behavior as soon as the thought crosses your mind too. He says it's very hard to stop once the chain of events is put into action. You're right, we need to implement our strategies as soon as we become aware of the danger. I know you've read it, but I can't recommend that book highly enough to anyone who hasn't had to chance to check it out.

As for the rewards, you're so, so right. Why else would I still be doing what I'm doing, eight years later? :D

Wardhog, I remember that part about what to wear when running in the fall. I would layer up with a dri-fit T-shirt underneath a long-sleeved shirt and wear gloves that I'd eventually take off. But I'd wear shorts, too, because I knew I'd be getting hot, plus I didn't have breathable tights. Not allowed to run anymore, and really miss running in the fall.

Regarding cranberry, I never ate cranberry sauce until I discovered a recipe for cranberry orange sauce that had gotten lots of rave reviews at All Recipes. Made it last year and it was yummy. I don't eat turkey (or any animal products) anymore so I just kind of ate it by itself. Would be a good jam replacement, too. Cranberries are really good for you, but it's the sugar that you have to put in them to make them edible that really messes you up.

Dagmar, I hope you don't let 4 lbs. scare you away from going to your reunion. In the scheme of things, 4 lbs. is nothing, and I'm betting that people will be carrying a lot more than 4 lbs. of extra weight. You wouldn't think less of them for that, would you? So please don't punish yourself so harshly--go and have a wonderful time catching up with people and hearing what they've done with their lives.

Our handyperson got sick last week so our kitchen has remained torn out for a week, but he'll be here tomorrow (I hope). The electrician is supposed to come Tuesday and fix all the stuff we discovered was wrong once we tore out the soffits. Hopefully the cabinet guy can come the next week, and then we can get the appliances back in. I cleaned up the garden beds and discovered more spaghetti and acorn squash plus a whole lot of carrots. Anyone have a recipe for a good carrot soup?

Hope everyone has a great Sunday!

Sheila I'm definitely going to the reunion - wearing tight bright pink corduroy pants too! I know I'm going to be one of the fittest people there. The 4 lbs. would have stopped me 10 years ago but no longer.

I may not have changed the overeating habit but I've definitely changed the social situation avoidance. I'll have a bit less confidence but I'm still going.

Dagmar