Living Maintenance - Maintainers Chat: Week Of November 9 - 15

Good morning and happy new week!

I'm hoping today is the first day that I'm feeling better. It's like coming out of a ten-day fog or something! Every time I started feeling better, I got sick again. Thank goodness, my headache isn't as bad and I'm a lot less congested this morning. That means -- it's time to get my greatly enlarged butt back to the gym!! I made myself face the scale this morning and it's a bad number, so we'll see what a week of clean eating and the gym can do.

I had my first run-in with holiday food this weekend. I had to work an extra day on Saturday, so I thought I'd pick up some bagels and cream cheese on my way for the staff and clients. Brueggers had pumpkin cream cheese -- don't try it! It's ridiculously good! So of course, the staff and clients loved the pumpkin cream cheese and bagels -- and I was face first in them all day. I have zero willpower when I'm sick!!

It's funny, the whole time I was sick, I *knew* that I was eating for all the wrong reasons: comfort, energy, as a reward for surviving a day of work. I knew it, and I still did it. Once again I'm smacked in the face with another great lesson in how my eating issues are all still lurking there, right below the surface. In my case, I can manage them (most of the time!) but it's not something I'll ever be "cured" of. :shrug:

Other than that, same old, same old. I need to get two cats to the vet this morning before work, but the gym comes first.

How was everyone's weekend?

I'm doing some "math" this morning.

One beer = complete loss of control
Zero beers = clean eating

3 weeks of not watching carefully = 4 lbs. gained

Seven weeks til Christmas = seven lbs. to lose.

Have a great Monday all!

Dagmar :sumo:

Good morning!

Meg, I am glad you're feeling better. Note to self: No pumpkin cream cheese.

Dagmar, I lose all control when I drink, too.

My week-end was crazy. I had a great time at the spin-a-thon, but things sort of went downhill after that (stayed on plan, though). ILs are here for five more nights. Give me strength.

Meg - Thanks for the reminder that eating issues lurk right below the surface. I ran into an example of that this week when I found my hand in a bowl of roasted peanuts on two occasions - just because they were sitting in the middle of the table for an extended period. Ouch!

I think of myself as being a bit immune to peanuts because there's a jar in my pantry that I ignore every day, but I underestimated the draw of the little buggers right there at the tip of my eyeballs, LOL.

The first time resolved itself because the meeting finally ended. The second time I simply picked up the bowl and brought it into the kitchen - without bothering the hostess to see if she minded. Just kept the conversation going.

.

Checking in on a Monday morning. I thought today would be great! I got up and did a 2 mile brisk walk and felt great. Everything was going great. Until I got to work. Three guys out with the flu this morning. One still sick after leaving early Thursday--two more new ones. It's ugly. I'm almost certain that DH will be the next (he always catches something from the guys). I survived my son's cold (or was it the flu?) but will I survive this?

Oh, Meg, pumpkin cream cheese does sound divine. It'd go great with a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. It's a good thing we only go there about 3 times a year, but seriously, that flavor is calling out for me!!

DD came home for the weekend and had a nice a surprise. She gained more than the freshman 15 last year and was thinking she had gained more this year, but she got on the scale and screamed out "Oh, my goodness!" and came to report she had lost 5 pounds. You know, sometimes a loss like that can spur you into losing more (I know it does it to me). It's still a little sad for me to know that she is 2 inches shorter than me and weighs a little more than I did when I started this journey. I guess I should be thankful she didn't weigh 180 or more like she thought.

DD and I went shopping this weekend and I got a new pair of jeans and two t-shirts, then DD picked out a pretty blouse for me and it looked good so I got it, too. In the shoe department I found a pair of not-too-high heeled ankle boots to replace the 15 year old pair in my closet. And they didn't have my size. But I went home and ordered them direct. Very cute: Anne Klein boots (http://demandware.edgesuite.net/aaca_prd/on/demandware.static/Sites-anneklein-Site/Sites-anneklein-catalog/default/v1257570676496/products/PG.AKGAMBLER.BLACKSU.PD.jpg)

Popping my head in - back from a conference in Minneapolis last week.

Honestly feeling pretty low because I just broke up with my boyfriend of 2 years yesterday - I don't know how to tell someone that I fell out of love with them, I mean nothing was wrong with him or the relationship. But I managed to do it. Somewhere deep down I know I did the right thing, I just feel like crap right now.

I'll catch up later - today and tomorrow are exam-filled and I have to lead a class tomorrow afternoon.

Good morning. Just got a cavity filled and half of my face is still dead... I'm on the phone with a coworker and she just said "Are you okay, you sound kind of froggy?" Nice. At least I got a paraffin hand treatment and got to sit in the fancy massage chair during it. Been trying to rush around and track down one of the owners to sign some checks we have to rush for our medical insurance because the insurance company lost the first set we sent for October - four people to choose from, all of them are out of town or otherwise unavailable today. Making today kind of frantic.

Iris - :hug: sorry about your breakup.

Allison - stay well! Fabulous boots.

Billy - I can handle my closed jar of peanuts, too, but an open bowl would push me over the edge. I would have had to move them, too.

Ward - hang in there, it is almost over.

Dagmar - beer usually does that to me, too. Cuts off the 'no snacking' switch or something.

Meg - hope you continue to feel better today!

My dad's birthday was this weekend so eating yesterday went totally off track - we went to Red Lobster for lunch, but didn't eat until almost 3. So, I had a small bowl of cereal in the morning, a small salad at around 11:30, about the same calorie count as my normal morning snack. Had lunch at Red Lobster at 3, got a wood grilled salmon BLT with steamed broccoli, gave most of the homeade potato chips that came with it to DSS. Had two bites of an apple crumble thing, one bite of a cheesecake, two bites of a chocolate cookie dessert. Small bites, felt okay. Came home, had a 400 calorie dinner at about 8. Followed that up with half of a guinness and the birthday peanut butter spice cake my mom sent home with us. I just ate all day, and once I got to Red Lobster the healthier choices went right out the window. I have no idea how many calories were in the sandwich, because the nutrition info included the chips, but I figure I ate 1000 calories between it, the various dessert bites, the biscuit I had to have & the small salad. Even with that I still couldn't say no to the birthday cake after dinner. One of those triggers, I guess.

Good day everyone!

Meg, totally understand about eating when not feeling well. Glad you're feeling better now. What's up with your cats? Mine is going to the vet in about an hour. Poor kitty isn't feeling well at all.

Dagmar, not sure I like the "new" math. Alcohol is going out the door for me, too, although I'm going to miss that glass of wine.

WardHog, great job on staying on plan.

BillBlueEyes, it's strange that sometimes foods are triggers and other time the same food doesn't have any effect.

Allison, what cute boots! That's a nice surprise for your DD. Hope your DH doesn't come down with what's going around your office. Hand sanitizer!

Iris, I'm sorry about the break-up, although I know you said you did the right thing. Even doing the right thing can be hard--maybe it's just the change and the associated loss.

Shannon, the hand treatments are nice, but when it means getting a cavity filled, well, I'd rather stay home and have lobster hands. Re: the food, well, today is another day.

We saw Lily Tomlin on Saturday night. What a treat! She's so agile for 70 years old--still can hop around and be Edith Ann (hhmm, some of you will know who that is, right?). Went to an Italian restaurant before, and I did okay. It helped that I wasn't all that thrilled with my entree. I was the only one who didn't eat everything on the plate.

Hope you are all having a good Monday! I'm enjoying the sun. :)

Hi everyone! DH and I ended up going out to the country with his family as kind of a last-minute thing this past weekend. Of course that meant eating was off plan. I will complain about it in the take 5 thread instead though. :) Overall the weekend was fun!

Meg, glad to hear you're finally on the mend! Mmmm, pumpkin cream cheese...

Dagmar, I eat more when I drink too. :(

Ward, great job on the spinathon!

Bill, I know the feeling. Far too often I have found myself eating something just because it was sitting in front of me. I'm not hungry, I'm not doing emotional eating, it doesn't even taste that good, but it's just sitting there so I eat it. I'm starting to think it's some kind of evolutionary feast/famine reaction where my body says "eat while it's there because you might not see food for another week!" or something crazy like that.

Allison, I'll cross my fingers that you don't catch the flu!

Iris, :hug: sorry to hear you broke up with your BF. If you weren't in love anymore it is for the best, but it's hard anyway. :( :hug:

Shannon, today is a new day!

Sheila, okay, who is Edith Ann?

Was it Michele who was asking about Hanukkah on last week's thread? I liked your option of sending small gifts to your DD at school, then having a celebration when she gets home. She may be able to do some celebrating at school with other Jewish friends or with Hillel.

I talked to MIL about DH's birthday. She agreed to make the main course of the Hanukkah party one of DH's favorites (goulash) and that I could bring the cake or whatever other dessert he wants. She also said if we wanted she would help pay for getting a fancy cake from the bakery that made our wedding cake, so that's another option.

More recruiting activities at work for me tonight. Hopefully they will have SOME vegetables for dinner this time. :sigh: I did bring along an extra healthy snack so in the worst case I can just not eat and then eat when I get home.

Sheila - My FIL designed a remodel for Lily Tomlin, and apparently, she's NICE too!

Meg - Sick is, without a doubt, my biggest overeating trigger. Some combination of "I don't feel good and eating will make me feel better", actual symptom relief, and general tiredness will throw me off, almost every time. And I'll know it's not productive while I do it.

Iris - sorry to hear about your breakup. Even if it's the right thing, it can be so hard.

Shannon - I almost never say no to birthday cake, unless it's bad cake. A well-baked cake? I'll have a piece almost every time.

Alinnell - Those boots are so cute! Hope you avoid the germs...Sarah thinks she may be coming down with something too. I'm hoping not!

Billblueeyes - it's weird, isn't it, how just the way the food is presented can influence so strongly whether you eat it? I'm personally a sucker for anything small that I can delude myself into thinking "barely counts", so finger food is iffy for me, including nuts in bowls of all kinds.

Wardhog - sending you lots of on-plan strength!

Dagmar - 7 weeks, eh? Scary math! My current math is a little scary as well!

Nice weekend - got a massage from an old friend who just got certified. Hooray for the friends and family rate! He did some deep tissue work on the shoulder, and apparently at first thought that some of the knots were bone...at the end of the session, he just kept saying "your poor shoulder! I've never felt anything like that". Oy.

We also were out of town, so we couldn't go to our normal farmers market...but being the devoted local shoppers we are, we opted to go to one in SF. It was nice, but not as nice as mine. Still, we have our fill of veggies and fruit for the week, and I have at least a vague idea of where they were grown and how far they've traveled.

We saw Lily Tomlin on Saturday night. What a treat! She's so agile for 70 years old--still can hop around and be Edith Ann (hhmm, some of you will know who that is, right?).

I know, Sheila. :) I used to watch Laugh In all the time.... Jessica, if you google Lily Tomlin Edith Ann you'll see. There are a couple of YouTUbe videos, but YouTube is down for maintenance right now, so I can't post the linkds.

Okay, as part of my Precision Nutrtion/Lean Eating program, we're supposed to be drinking only water/coffee/tea for 2 weeks (we have a new habit every two weeks, mostly food/nutrition based). I'm just being accountable here so telling everyone I'm drinking no alcohol between now and Thanksgiving. :) I certainly don't drink more than 3-4 glasses of wine a week, and often less, but still I am making a conscious choice not to even have that.

Sheila Haven't thought about Lily Tomlin in years. The whole Laugh-In gang either. I remember my grade 7 class doing impressions of all of them and I had to be Goldie Hawn doing the dancing thing - yikes!

Iris:hug: Hanging on out of habit is a lot worse.

Pat Giving up the alcohol isn't that hard - it's all the things associated with it that have to go too. Cold beer on a hot afternoon after being out in the sun all day, glass of wine in front of the fire on a cold night, etc. etc. (I think I'm gonna cry :p).

Meg Glad you're feeling better! My DH is still wiped out after 10 days. I think your excellent level of fitness/health probably gave you an edge in fighting it off.

Shannon Your dentist gives paraffin treatments and massages? Sign me up! All I get is a free toothbrush.

Mandalinn Your masseur friend sounds like he has a lot of empathy.

Bill Funny how a lot of temptation is in the packaging and presentation of things.

Dagmar :cool:

Dagmar, only 7 weeks till Christmas?! Yikes! That math of yours is a little depressing but I think it definitely checks out.

Shannon, I'm also curious about this paraffin treatment - I want to go to your dentist! =)

Amanda, friends who do massage are great friends to have! And I'm glad you found another farmer's market to check out. I need to up my veggie intake again, it's been slowly diminishing as I get busier.

Jessica, I'm glad you enjoyed your weekend even if eating was off plan.

Very cute boots, Allison! At some point I will need to invest in nicer winter shoes that I can walk comfortably in. I have some kind of cute boots, but I don't want to walk too far in them.

Bill, I definitely have problems when things like nuts or chex mix, etc. are sitting out in bowls in front of me. I munch and munch and munch! Good for you for removing them! I always ask people not to place them near me, but they know I'll eat them if they do, and so a "good host/hostess" will place them by the people who will eat them, it seems. *sigh*

Ward, be strong this week - you can do it!

Meg, I am glad you are feeling better today.

Thanks to everyone for sympathizing about my break-up. I know it was the right thing to do - in our mid-20's and after being together for 2 years, if I know marriage is not in the picture it was time to break it off... but I'm taking it a lot harder than I thought I would. It's an "I love him, but I'm not in love with him" situation. I just feel a need to comfort him. I want to be there for him, but I can't - I'm the one who caused the pain, and that really hurts me, too. Anyway - time will heal. Thanks again for you thoughts. =)

Good morning! I made it through an entire day feeling semi-human, so things are definitely getting better. The high point of the day was the gym. :carrot: Even though my stamina is off and I had to drop my weights by 5 - 10 pounds, it just felt ridiculously good to move my body. I kept saying to myself: I forgot how good this feels! So legs (light) and cardio are on the schedule this morning.

Bill, I'm really impressed with how you handled the peanut situation. Too often we're "people-pleasers" and don't take care of our own needs because we worry about hurting other people's feelings. You figured out what you needed and took charge. :high: I'm going to remember this story next time I'm in a similar situation!

Sheila, one kitty went to the vet for his annual exam and shots. He's in great shape, though I was surprised when they called him a "senior" at age 7. The other cat I took is 18 1/2, so 7 seems pretty young! The old guy isn't doing so well. He has kidney and thyroid problems and is steadily losing weight so we did more blood work to figure out what to do. He's still getting around fine and not in any pain, but I can see him wasting away. He sleeps on top of me every night but is so light now that I can't even feel him. :(

Allison, love, love, love those boots! Because I wear pants 99% of the time, I'm into ankle boots too. I even bought purple suede this year. :dizzy: I hope DH stays healthy because whatever crud is going around really stinks.

Iris, I'm so sorry about the breakup and understand how much it can hurt even if it's the right thing to do. :hug:

Amanda, do you think regular massage might help your shoulder? Gosh, it would be wonderful if anything could give you some pain relief!

One day of clean eating and the gym knocked 1.2 pounds of gain off, so I'm hoping that the rest will be gone in a week or so. There's about an 8 pound range where all my size 4 pants fit. The top part of the range is where they fit but are a bit snug. The bottom part of the range is where most of them fit but some are falling off and some are actually too big. I'm uncomfortably near "snug" and want to get back to "falling off". Funny how my pants are the absolute best gauge of my weight!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and by all means, stay away from pumpkin cream cheese!

One day of clean eating and the gym knocked 1.2 pounds of gain off, so I'm hoping that the rest will be gone in a week or so.

Good for you Meg!

Mine is not so easily lost. But I took a lot longer to put it on so it'll take that much longer to take it off. And it didn't help that my dinner plans were derailed by DH eating the dinner stuff for lunch!

Have a great day all!

Dagmar :sumo:

One more crazy day, then a break tomorrow! No work or class because of Veteran's day... although I will be working anyway to catch up for missed time. Much needed!

Meg, I need to get back into my workout routine - I'm sure I'd find it refreshing as you did!

Good morning!

Meg - glad you got back to the gym yesterday!

Iris - the paraffin treatment was nice, I have to say. Left my hands all soft and lavender smelling, so I promptly did some weight lifting this morning. :)

Dagmar - Sorry your dinner plans got thrown off yesterday!

Pat - No alcohol until Thanksgiving, got it. :)

Amanda - I hope the massage helped your shoulder! I imagine with the damage in there it did feel odd to the therapist. Ouch.

Jessica - fancy bakery cake for DH's birthday sounds yummy!

Sheila - I love Lily Tomlin.

Yesterday stayed totally OP. Got a 6 mile run at the park, kept my food in line, got up and exercised this morning. Good start to the day. Now I get to go do another round of random drug screens at my downtown location. Why is it sunny for days in a row but every time I have to drive downtown the rain moves in? :mad:

Good day everyone!

DH is being such a grouch about his birthday plans! I'm laughing at him but I know he is pretty upset about turning 30. He totally refuses to tell me what kind of cake he wants. He was like, "Well, as long as I tell you a week before, you'll have time to make it, right?" Well yeah, but I want to think about it now! :lol:

Fly by for me today, we're doing interviews all day at work again. I packed my lunch so I will socialize while eating my planned food rather than the provided food (last time there were cookies that were literally as big as my head).

Dagmar and Pat, good luck with the no alcohol! My advice to help you avoid it is to pretend that you're pregnant. The only difference is that it's YOUR health you're concerned about rather than a baby's.

Morning all,

A hurricane? What the heck? I've been really busy moving things to prepare for flooding. Yesterday at the office we moved things around in case of a flood, and did the same at home. With the high tide this morning I'm glad I didn't park my car at my house last night! I watched the water creep up my street... got to watch it again tonight (another high tide). I'm glad the house is up on pilings. It's very windy and rainy, too, but that's not bad compared to the flooding. I thought hurricane season was over!

I'm buckling down my eating & workouts in these last few weeks before Thanksgiving... actually it's easier in a way. I'm got play rehearsals every night right now, so I just leave the house with my gym clothes and a big bag of packed food and get home in time to re-pack and go to bed.

Alcohol also makes me eat more than I should, or things that I shouldn't. It's also one of the easier "excess calories" for me to cut out, so I usually do when I'm in "losing mode". Good luck to those who are cutting it out through Thanksgiving! Come to think of it I probably won't have a drink, either.

Iris, I'm so sorry to hear about your break-up. Even if you initiated it, being with someone for 2 years and then not, especially someone you care about, is really tough. Hang in there. :hug:

Meg, glad you had a great workout! I'm sure your pants will be lose in no time. Sorry your cat isn't doing so well.

Amanda, ouch, I hope the massage helped your shoulder un-knot a little bit.

Jessica, if you could request a salad for the lunches your office serves you, could you request one for the dinners? Does the same person (people?) do the ordering? Tell them your a vegetarian or something. A plate of cheese would be healthier than most Dave & Buster's fare. :p

Ward, you can do it! Your in-laws do not control what you eat! :dust:

Bill, great job with the peanuts! Social situations are something I continually struggle with, sometimes do better than others. I can control what's in my own house but not other places. I need to be like you more often!

Hi to everyone else! I need to get some work done! Does anyone else get off of work for Veterans Day tomorrow?

I'm certainly old enough to remember Edith Ann (thhhbbbbt).

I'm starting to wonder if I have a bit of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) or something along those lines. It gets dark here ridiculously early (total darkness by 5 PM and the sun is coming up at about 5:30 AM). So I get home around 5:30 and I can't fathom fixing or eating a salad. I want the warm comfort of a casserole and you know that means fat and calories. It's that comfort food I crave when it's dark. I try to keep the fat down but it's definitely a carb fest when I make a casserole.

Speaking of carbs, I read today in the LA Times that there was a year long study in Australia with half on a low carb-high protein diet and half on a low fat-high carb diet. Both groups lost 30 pounds (calories limited to 1400 women and 1700 men) but the group that got more carbs reported better morale. They said that low carb restricts seratonin which makes you happy. Maybe I should stop worrying about carbs so much as long as I keep my calories within reason.

Megan~I thought of you when I heard Ida was on the way there. At least she's been downgraded, but I hope you don't get flooded!

Meg~glad to hear you're feeling more human!

We still have 2 employees out sick. It seems each person who gets it (whether it be a cold or the flu) is out of work for three days. We have 4 shop guys/installers who have not gotten it and 3 of us in the office are still well. I hope I don't get it, but if I do, I hope I get it NOW instead of when my family is coming for Thanksgiving.

Fingers crossed that DH doesn't come down with a cold this week - he is fighting off a scratchy throat right now. Our anniversary trip is next week (Sun-Wed) - last year he was miserably sick the entire time, the year before he had a minor cold but wasn't too bad. I'm thinking it is now just part of the tradition - DH will be sick on the anniversary vacation. :(

Shannon - Sarah gets a cold and starts TOM every time we go anywhere or anything romantic happens. Proposal? yep. Wedding and honeymoon? Yep! Europe trip - double yep!

Day 2 as a human water retention sponge. Hopefully two days of water flooding will be enough. Shoulder is also still wicked sore, which is irritating.

Megan, glad to hear you're safe from the storms!

Allison, I totally understand not wanting to make salad when it's dark at 5:30pm. Unfortunately out here we're getting sunrise at 7:30 and sunset at 5:30. Ugh! I do have a suggestion though -- broth-based soups. They take the place of a salad pretty well and feel more comforting and warming when it's dark outside. I believe I have my minestrone soup recipe posted in the recipes sticky if you want to take a look. Most broth-based soups are low in calories and you can have a big portion. Just avoid the cream-based soups!

Shannon, my fingers are crossed! :crossed:

Amanda, LOL, that is the biggest benefit of birth control IMO -- being able to plan things around your TOM. Although I admit I had TOM on my honeymoon too. :o

Hi Everyone,

Just checking in to say hi and let you all know that I am still around even though I don't post often. It's fun keeping up with everyone. I wish Lily would check in and let us know how she's doing. I took the Halloween candy pledge and did great, except a few weeks before Halloween I bought a bag of mini Three Musketeers for my husband and ate a couple before I remembered my pledge. The last few months I have been trying to get down to 135 and plan to stay there this time. I've said this before but I'm always either in losing mode or gaining mode and need to really, finally learn how to maintain. I'm trying hard to fight the urge to go lower to see what it feels like, plus I am afraid of eating more than I do when I'm in losing mode for fear or setting off binge-y behavior, which is what seems to happen when I lose my focus on losing weight and start thinking more about food (instead of the scale, new clothes, working out, etc.).

On another note, does anyone remember a thread from the last few months that involved some really yummy low-cal recipes. I remember thinking that I would go back to it to copy them down but now I can't seem to find it. It is not the stick that has pages and pages of our favorites but was rather a discussion involving our favorites that helped us stay on track. I think there was one for low-cal pumpkin pie or custard.

My daughter is enjoying her freshman year at college and my son is living back at home after a break up with his long-term girlfriend and job lay off. Just when I thought we were going to be empty nesters... :) I'm glad he's here and glad we can help him, but it's not what I expected.

Thanks,
Pam

For you Lily Tomlin Fans or those who would like to be rent " 9 to 5" with Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton, this is a funny, funny movie. Those of you who have ever worked in an office will love it !

Allison, and Jessica, this is the time of year that I win the "it's too dark" contest. :rofl: Here's where we are, with almost 6 weeks until we start gaining light again.

Nov 10, 2009 8:54 AM 4:32 PM 7h 38m 30s

Pat~you must crave sunlight!!!

Jessica~thanks for the soup idea. I do remember doing a lot of soups last year and it did help. I'll have to make a few to have on hand.

Soup...I have to get some good soup recipes... I also need to figure out a way to store it in my tiny fridge and freezer... :(

Shannon, I sympathize on the lack of freezer space! We have one little freezer for three of us where I'm living.

Pat - I hear you on the it's too dark issues! I'm counting..6 more weeks till the shortest day, and 6 more weeks till we get the same light level again. That;s 3 whole months of dark!

OTOH- that ALSO means that I'll have to get into gear for our national gift holiday on december 6th! AAARRGH! This can be so soon! I have not prepared anything yet!


have a great day all,
rabbit

OTOH- that ALSO means that I'll have to get into gear for our national gift holiday on december 6th! AAARRGH! This can be so soon! I have not prepared anything yet!

You get a paraffin hand treatment at the dentist and there's a national gift holiday - I wanna be an American!

How does this holiday work? Do you give just one gift at random? Never heard of this.

Dagmar :cool:

[QUOTE]I've said this before but I'm always either in losing mode or gaining mode and need to really, finally learn how to maintain. I'm trying hard to fight the urge to go lower to see what it feels like, plus I am afraid of eating more than I do when I'm in losing mode for fear or setting off binge-y behavior, which is what seems to happen when I lose my focus on losing weight and start thinking more about food (instead of the scale, new clothes, working out, etc.). [/QU

You do know how to maintain it is always balancing the scale up or down.

I personally could have written this.
Good luck

LOL Dagmar, my dentist certainly doesn't do paraffin wax treatments! I bet if they did I'd have to pay for it because my dental insurance certainly wouldn't cover such a thing. And there is no national gift holiday in the US, I think Rabbit lives in maybe the Netherlands? (Sorry if I got that wrong, Rabbit!) I have a feeling life in the US is not very different from life in Canada. ;)

My scale dipped down to 140.8 this morning so I'm hoping that this may be the week I hit my 5lbs for Thanksgiving goal. Woohoo!

Pat - I hear you on the it's too dark issues! I'm counting..6 more weeks till the shortest day, and 6 more weeks till we get the same light level again. That;s 3 whole months of dark!

OTOH- that ALSO means that I'll have to get into gear for our national gift holiday on december 6th! AAARRGH! This can be so soon! I have not prepared anything yet!


have a great day all,
rabbit

I was born and raised and continue to live in the US of A and have never heard of a national gift holiday. Tell me more !!

Rabbit does live in the Netherlands. Dec 6th is also the feast day of St Niklaus (your spelling may vary), patron saint of children and, er, precursor of S. Claus aka F. Christmas.

Broadcast from Europe ends. Over and out. :wave:

Rabbit does live in the Netherlands. Dec 6th is also the feast day of St Niklaus (your spelling may vary), patron saint of children and, er, precursor of S. Claus aka F. Christmas.

Broadcast from Europe ends. Over and out. :wave:

Gee, rabbit why not let us in on the information that you live in the Netherlands, Dagmar was all set to move to the US and my feelings were hurt that I did not know about national gift day. I have been to The Netherlands but it was in the Spring , so no gifts !

Dagmar - not every dentist in America does the paraffin treatments, this is actually the first one I've had that does it. Oddly, since I started going to this one I've found two other that do it as well. Maybe it is a new trend?

Rabbit - December 6th will be here before you know it. Do people still write poems to go with the gifts? I remember something about that from a project I did in school, though I may be remembering the wrong country...

Jessica - :high: on the scale!

Pat - all that dark is one more reason I would have gone nuts had I gotten a job in Alaska... :)

Pam - sorry about your son's troubles. Just when you thought the kids were out of the house...

Amanda - sorry your shoulder is still killing you, I hoped the massage would help. Has the water helped with the retention yet?

DSS's great-grandfather died on Sunday - his mom is taking him with her to the visitation and the funeral, so they will be gone today and tomorrow. He is just about 5, so I think he is of age to understand a little of what is going on. Hopefully having him there will help his mom, I know it will be hard for her.

I am tired tired tired today. Didn't sleep well last night, started the morning moving boxes and assembling a metal shelf at our company storage unit. Probably should have been a two person assembly in hindsight... Probably part of what led to the cookie I had with lunch. Blah.

Good day everyone.

Hey guys, we are going out to dinner tonight and I am wondering which would be the better choice, calorie wise. It's a Japanese place where they cook in front of you, so I could have stir fry w/ my choice of chicken, steak, salmon or shrimp w/ vegetables (I would ask for no rice). It comes with soup, salad, and dessert.

Or, I could order from the sushi bar, but I don't do raw, so I would get tempura, probably salmon and/or shrimp. I am leaning towards the sushi just because it doesn't come with all that extra stuff, which I would probably eat just because it's sitting in front of me.

But the stir fry does have lots of vegetables. Hmm ... a dilemma.

I checked the restaurant's website and there's no nutrition data.

I would go with either the salmon or shrimp, probably the hibachi without the rice. I love the hibachi veggies... Though, I have ordered plain white rice at those places before, so you could probably do a little bit of that to cut down on the oil if you have rice control. I don't always have rice control, so I have to think really hard before I do it. :) Tempura is lightly fried in a batter, right? I like seared salmon so have done that at sushi places - not exactly raw, but not exactly cooked either. :)

Actually, the last time I went to a sushi/hibachi restaurant I got a huge bowl of seafood soup as I remember.

Good idea, Shannon. I could eat seared, I think. And if that's not available, then I'll do the hibachi with no rice. If it's sitting in front of me, I'll eat too much.

So I don't know why on Monday when I was too busy to post, I thought it would be a good idea to wait?!?! Now there are way too many posts to reply to! So, hello to everyone!!

Iris-- I'm very sorry to hear about your breakup but you do sound to be in a good place about it.

Jessica-- yes, it was me asking about Hanukkah. We decided to wait until dd comes home from college and we will start with our day 1 then. Younger dd didn't mind and since older dd is at a Jesuit University, there is no Hillel and literally about 3 Jewish students-- none of which she knows.

I have the day off today and have had trouble getting motivated to do anything. I am so exhausted. Dh has been gone for almost 2 weeks and I've been working every day. Dh comes home tomorrow night thank goodness. Speaking of dentists I went this morning and have to go back in an hour for the first part of a crown. Fun, fun... and no paraffin wax treatments at my office either.

I'm hoping I'll still feel like going to the gym after. I can't remember what is involved with the temporary crown.

Speaking of holidays and boyfriends, my older dd (sophomore in college) is still dating her long distance boyfriend from the summer. I was hoping the relationship would end when she went back to school but it hasn't. They haven't seen each other but according to her they are "very serious" about each other. I still haven't met him and dh has only met him briefly. He is currently in Liverpool staying with his brother that plays soccer on the team there. He wanted her to go there at Christmas and we told her it wasn't appropriate for her to stay with him so he is now planning on coming and staying with us! I hope it happens so we can meet him and see what is really going on with the relationship. We have many, many hesitations about the relationship (age, race, religion, citizenship, career path) but I don't want to judge him without meeting him. Looks like we will have some interesting holidays at my house!!

Wish I had more time to catch up but I'm going to throw on my gym clothes in anticipation of going after the dentist.

Michele, your DD's boyfriend's brother plays soccer for Liverpool???? For real??? The Liverpool?? As in England???

Michele, your DD's boyfriend's brother plays soccer for Liverpool???? For real??? The Liverpool?? As in England???

Yes, that's the one.... I think that is why dd's boyfriend is in no big rush to come back the states and say, get a real job! He's probably having way too much fun living it up over there on his brother's dime (or Euro!).

Hmmm, I've known that Rabbit was in the Netherlands for a long time.... BUt I'm all over a national gift day :lol:

I'm off today and so far have pretty much done zilch except take a shower and feed myself. I'm enjoying it! :) Really I've been very tired and stressed at work, so it's nice to do nothing, at least for a day. The weather is very windy making the windchill close to zero. :brr: THe gym is closed, so I've no reason to go anywhere. DH chose to go to Anchorage, mostly because he has cabin fever I think. Oh well, the cats and I are doing fine.

Pat, I was off today as well and didn't do too much either - just some laundry! Unfortunately it wasn't as relaxing as it should have been, because I know there were so many things I SHOULD have been doing...

Michele, I hope you do get to meet your daughter's bf - especially if they are as serious as she says!

I'm still reeling from my break-up. We are long distance right now and I'm questioning a lot of things - feeling rather confused. But I'll just have to see how it all pans out... *sigh*

Michele - I'm only 40 miles from Liverpool along a good road. Would you like me to pop over and see what I think??

Hi all,

Yes! I live in the netherlands, and I'll lift the veil on our national gift holiday:

as Silverbirch said, this is the holiday of "Sinterklaas", bishop of Myra, who allegedly lives in spain in a palace with "zwarte pieten" (black peters). On his birthday, december 6th, sinterklaas and the zwarte pieten will travel over the roofs of the houses. Sinterklaas will be on his white horse (schimmel amerigo), who miraculously is able to clim on a roof and walk from rooftop to rooftop. The zwarte pieten will go down the chimney and leave presents for the good children if they have put their shoes at the fireplace. Sinterklaas keeps tab of each and every child in his big red book, and good kids get presents. bad kids get either a bunch of bracnches or get taken back in a bag to his castle in spain. Children are supposed to sing to sinterklaas when they put out their shoes, and they leave out apples, carrots, hay and a bowl of water for the horse.

You can imagine this is a big hoax to keep up, and typically the whole nation will pretend this is true, to all the kids in primary school. Next saturday Sinterklaas will arrive officially from spain in his steamboat with gifts and this is actually a half day long live broadcast on national TV. After that, he will be welcomed in all towns and villages (including my own, also next weekend). The progress of the steamboat is also the subject of TV coverage in the "sinterklaas news", every day this week early in the evening. The arrival of sinterklaas signals the start of the "schoenzetten" peiod, where the children are allowed to put their shoes at the fireplace and zwarte piet may put in a small gift or some chocolate or "pepernoten" (sort of small spice coockies).

For the grown ups, december 6th is the gift exchange evening, and yes, you have to make a poem with the gift, or masquerade your gift into something else so it is a surprise.

I think the gift tradition has migrated from the old world to the new one...I believe Santaclaus is derived from sinterklaas, but he lost black peter and the steamboat on the way out and apparently was merged with the whole christmas holiday. The earliest stories about the miracles of sinterklaas date from the`15th century in the netherlands, and overhere Sinterklaas is more common as the gift holiday than christmas, especially in families with children.

---end of special broadcast on curious customs in europe---

Playing soccer for Liverpool???? That is a very famous soccerteam indeed!

I'm getting on with my work...

have a great day all,
rabbit

I keep forgetting :o that 3FC is not restricted to North America. Internet = international.

Thanks for the info rabbit. My parents were from Estonia and there are variations of this custom throughout Europe I think?

I believe you're right about Santa Claus stemming from these European origins. IMHO the European customs are much more charming than the North American.

No, no throwing rotten fruit at me!!!

Dagmar :o :dizzy:

Good morning all,

Back to normal here and the weather is calming down. The tidal water came up the street and thisclose to my yard Tuesday morning, but that was the worst of it. This is why all of our houses are on pilings. ;) I also enjoyed my day off yesterday. I relaxed a bit, and then spent some time cooking, had time to practice my music for my choral group, look through some of my other rehearsal materials (nice to actually have time to prepare, not just show up!), then off to the gym for a really good long cardio and back workout, rehearsal, rehearsal, and home to eat the nice dinner I'd prepared earlier. Ahhh.

Rabbit, yes, your Sinterklaas traditions sound similar to the U.S. (and others) Santa Claus indeed. Gifts, chimneys, shoes/socks by the fireplace, everyone maintaining the illusion for the sake of young school children... Thanks for sharing your traditions with us. I like the part about making up a poem or masquerading your gift to be a surprise.

Pat, a relaxing day inside on a cold day outside sound nice to me. :)

Michele, I hope the dentist went ok. My dentist doesn't have paraffin treatments either, I'm jealous! It's understandable to be hesitant about your DD's first BF, especially since they didn't meet in a "typical" way (going of to college and meeting someone in her study group, etc.). At least this visit will let you see how he treats her and treats you as well. Maybe it won't last, maybe it will, but he could be a nice guy. Don't throw fruit at me either!

Ward, yum, how was Japanese?

Shannon, did you get more rest last night?

Off to get some work done... Have a great day all!

Where has 3FC been all morning? Don't they know I need 3FC with my morning coffee?

Good afternoon everyone!

Megan - I did get more sleep last night, but am still groggy today. Glad you guys are okay and didn't have any damage from the storm!

Dagmar - the European traditions seem more charming to me as well, actually.

Rabbit - that sounds like a lot of fun!

Michele - first boyfriends are always hard, I know mine gave my folks a lot of grief and worry, too. I bet that is why he is staying in England, soccer is big over there.

Pat - glad you enjoyed your off day!

Ward - hope the Japanese food went well!

For whatever reason last night I decided to end my POP day with 4 pieces of Easter candy. Old, didn't taste good, made me feel icky. The rest is going in the trash when I get home. Ick.

Good day everyone.

Rabbit, I love the Sinterklass story! It is very similar and yet different from our own Santa Claus, who lives at the North Pole with elves (like your black peters I guess?) who make toys. Santa Claus keeps track of which kids are good and which are bad, and on Christmas he flies to everyone's houses with a team of reindeer (and lands on the roof), goes down the chimney, and leaves presents for children in the stockings they hang at the fireplace. If a child is bad they are supposed to get a lump of coal instead of a toy. Kids usually leave out milk and cookies for Santa Claus to eat.

I think most people have their own story about when they found out that Santa Claus wasn't real, but I don't really remember personally. My mom still leaves some presents with tags that say "To: Jessica From: ???" each year!

I was a little lost this morning, too, Shannon.

Somehow I feel as if my morning coffee (2/3 a pot) isn't working today. I know I've gotten plenty of sleep the past few nights (bed by 9, up around 5) yet I am indescribably drowsy today. How I'd love to curl up for a nice nap right now! I may head home an hour early today to do just that. Otherwise I feel fine, but I know that feeling tired is often the first sign to getting sick. I don't want to be sick.

Thanks for the sinterklass lesson, rabbit! Interesting!!

Glad you didn't get flooded, Megan!

Shannon! What? EASTER candy? That should have been thrown out around Mother's day (IMO)!!! It's funny--my kids, when they were little, would get tons of candy for all the major holidays. And it went a little like this:
Halloween candy, uneaten, thrown out at Thanksgiving
Any Thanksgiving goodies thrown out by Christmas
Christmas candy thrown out by Valentines
Valentines candy thrown out by St. Patricks.
and so on...you get the picture!

Allison, I was extra sleepy this morning too. I'm not sick (yet) but I definitely think my immune system is fighting something off. It's like, one day I had a headache, one day I almost had a cough but not quite, then I almost had the sniffles but not quite, then I was just a little bit sleepier than usual. I haven't really been sick in years -- I thank my healthy lifestyle for that one! :lol: Actually I'm not sure if the reason I stopped getting sick is because I started having a healthy lifestyle or if it's just because I finished school and don't have kids, so I'm not in the petrie dish of the classroom anymore.

In other news, the project I have been working on since I started working 3.5 years ago is officially done as of today! In case anyone is curious, you can see the website for my product here (http://www.kaluzasoftware.com), although it may not make sense to anyone who isn't either a flow cytometry researcher or a medical technician. ;)

The Santa stories reminded me of my friend's family. Her dad used to tell her that if she really wanted Santa to leave her a good present, instead of putting cookies and milk out for him, she should give santa what he really wants - a beer! hehe

. . . 6 pounds makes :(.

I was searching for something to wear tomorrow night (going to see Lyle Lovett) and pulled out all of the clothes I wore on my NYC trip last year.

I was at my lowest weight in years (131 lbs.) so most of the things I wore were tight and form fitting. They looked really good at that weight :D.

Not so much now. I'm at 137 lbs. and I definitely have mucho muffin top happening with the tight clothes. Strange how my weight has shifted up on my body. Used to gain mostly in my hips but now its practically all in the waist.

Sigh. I know it will really be worth it to get back to where those clothes look great but it's so much darn work. I need a couple of :kickbutt: motivational posts :p.

Anyone?

Have a great night all!

Dagmar (no muffin top smilie - too cruel?)

Dagmar-- I "met" Lyle Lovett a few years ago. I was staying in a hotel with two girlfriends and we were on the elevator. He got on with a girl and said "hi". I said something brilliant like "Hi, how are you?". After we got off the elevator, I was freaking out! One of my friends said, was that Lyle Lovett? My other friend was, huh? We were the only other ones on the elevator so it was pretty cool. Enjoy the concert!

Shannon-- Easter candy? Ick....

The dentist went fine (except my portion of the bill is going to be $400). I was a good girl and went to my spin class. My whole side of my face was numb. But I found the cure! Exercise-- the blood flows and the numbness wore off! Still sore today but not too bad.

Silverbirch-- I would love a personal spy! I'm getting such limited info from dd. I don't think he (the boyfriend's brother) is a starter for the team. He is either a back up player or on their practice team or something. So, not wildly famous. But, he does have a contract with them and apparently the paparazzi are still around them when they go out.

Dh comes home tonight. He's been gone for 2 weeks. I miss him but I never sleep well with him for a day or two after he gets home because I'm used to an empty bed. I woke up this morning crosswise across the bed!

Dd thinks she is getting sick too. I sure hope we can all fight off the sickies. My poor doggie Ozzie had a seizure this morning before we left for school. I hate when that happens.

My favorite exercise day of the week.... Latin Dance at the gym.... I'm off....

Mudpie, I gained 5 lbs last winter and I've never struggled harder to take off weight. It finally came off, with a few extras as a bonus, so it can be done!

Now is the time to reverse that trend. But you know that......:D

Wow, I had no idea how dependent I had become on 3FC until I had to go the better part of Thursday, all day Friday and this morning before my run without it! :eek:!

Dagmar - how went Lyle Lovett? I love love love his music...

Michele - exercise didn't wake my face up, unfortunately.... I ran at the park, came home, still had numb face going on...

Jessica - looked at your product link. Looks pretty cool!

DH & I are off tomorrow for our anniversary getaway to the mountains. He still feels a little icky, but just might have shaken off most of his cold. Here's hoping. Our anniversary is tomorrow, so we are going tomorrow night, come back on Wednesday. I picked a little cabin that is supposed to be very secluded and intimate, next to a little creek. So, if I choose to run out to the hot tub scantily clad it will be fine! :dizzy: It has wifi, so might be checking in, don't know yet.

Good day everyone!

My thoughts exactly....over 24 hours without you guys is too long! I did manage to get through once, but I wasn't able to post.

I hope the board is up reliably now!

Not much else to report...just going on with my weekend. I fininshed my exercise for the week so I can update the bunnies. It's rainig, and i have a full day ahead of my with chores and work.

Have a great weekend all,
rabbit

I had to bite the bullet and get on the scales this morning. It's been hovering around 100 lbs and I want to put on 2-3 lbs, but not more.

Same results. Still at 100 lbs, but at least I haven't lost more.

I am great at losing weight, even better at gaining, but maintaining is an adventure.:^:

Yey, 3fc is back up!!

Dagmar, how was the Lyle Lovett show? he is awesome!

Shannon, happy Anniversary!

Hi Sparrow!