WW Clubs and Groups - Turtle Club #123

Hi, Turtles,

Here's the fable that started it all:

The Hare and the Tortoise

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

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

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

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

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

Moral: Slow and steady wins the race.

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

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

We've been reflecting on what the turtle philosophy means as we start our second hundred posts. The turtle philosophy was a difficult one for people to accept. People want the weight off--NOW!! But reality is that it took time to put it on and it will take time to take it off. People want it to be easy to take off the weight. But reality is that it's not easy. You can have a program that's easy to follow, but following it steadily--that's hard. People don't want to exercise much, if at all. But reality is that our bodies were designed to move. So, we're setting realistic goals that take the weight off at a healthy pace. We're setting goals that will keep us moving steadily toward the healthy weight we want to be. And we're just plain moving. We're setting realistic exercise goals that will move our bodies the way they were meant to be moved.

We've also noticed that our turtle philosophy has affected the rest of our lives. I've started writing fiction again. I realize that I can finish a novel, or two, or ten. All I have to do is to set realistic daily goals, work steadily toward achieving them, and they will build up into finished books. Turtle Power at work in my everyday life.

Anyone who wants to join us in steadily moving toward all of our goals is welcome. I've met some wonderful people on this thread. I hope to meet many more. I know the battle with our weight is a difficult one. Having such supportive people come and post regularly keeps it from getting overwhelming. I hope to see many more people join us as we move forward on our journey.

Let's Get Moving!!

OK, then. I had a rotten week eating-wise, and I gained back the weight I lost the previous week. GAAAAAHHHHH ... so my biggest problem obviously right now is continuity. I do great for a while, then fall off the wagon, then do great for a while ... and it's amazing the leaps my weight is taking right now in both directions.

Getting on the scale once a week at least keeps me from going completely nuts. I did NOT want to get on those scales today. But I'm glad I did. I'll weigh in again tomorrow and pick the best weight, as usual.

Did my workout again this morning (only walked once last week) and am eating well today. Thank God each day is a new opportunity.

Judy, that's funny that you eat a lot standing up. I'll have to see if I do or not. My big thing is reading while I eat. I love to do that. I guess that's not a problem so long as it doesn't become a food-fest free-for-all. Which it did this past week.

You're such an inspiration. You've really done well ... you've had ups and downs, but you're sticking with it. And it shows! Way to go.

Lin, nice to see you go whizzing past. I hope you're doing OK.

Snow today. Michigan winters don't give up easily.

Onward,

Lauren
274/198

Hi everyone:

Did my curves last night but didn't go to ww. I have to wait about an hour in between these & felt too tired to wait around. Will go for sure next week & hopefully will show a loss. Ate way too much junk over the weekend. Seems once I have something I feel I shouldn't it just snowballs from there. We had a good time at the British show & got my picture taken with "Aileen" from Coronation St. Had some fish & chips there which I didn't need but they were good anyway.

Maybe we can share some food plans and ideas on this site - anyone interested?

Have a great OP day.

OK, I'm going with today's weight, which is better.

Bandit, go ahead and get the ball rolling. Sounds interesting. Glad you had fun on your Coronation Street event ... I love British soap operas. They're nothing like American plastic-people-stupid-stories ones.

Had a good day of eating yesterday; finished the day at 25 points. Did my workout yesterday and today. Moving on ...

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/196

Supper tonight I am making spaghetti & for my portion I am having:

Spaghetti squash mixed with 1/2 cup regular noodles (2 Pts) with 1/2 cup of sauce
(2 Pts) and topped with lots of mushroom & green/red peppers and some parmasean cheese (1 Pt) & piece of garlic bread (3 Pts) Total = 8 Pts.

Lauren - WTG on your loss & having a good point day!

Has anyone here started journally at night? I have been doing this for awhile & if I stay OP it works well with my lifestyle & easier to count my snacks at night.

Bye for now.

Hi, Turtles,

Just a quick checkin here. bandit, I started journaling from dinner to dinner several years ago. It's always worked better for me because I most often have my dinner plans changed at the last minute.

Nice going, you two.

I'm doing OK. I'm eating pretty healthy, even if I'm not counting points. I've been getting some exercise in, lately, too. The weather has been gorgeous which has helped.

I hope everyone else is doing well, too. I'm looking forward to hearing more from you all soon.

I hope you're all moving. :dance:

Hi Turtles,
It's been crazy here! Got caught up in a whirlwind of doctor's visits and a visit to the ER with my dh--none of this was fun. Completely scary and exhausting. He's gotten his bloodwork back and is A-OK. Am very thankful. Have to conquer the need to eat over stress. One day I had 7 3pt. cookies--didn't help my daily count--trust me.

I had a respite yesterday when I took my aunt to a pre-arranged day in NYC. We saw a play called Wonderful Town. She is 76 years old and said it was the best time in she couldn't remember when.

When I got home, I got all sorts of good news. DH's doc called and said everything looked good. My dd has a wonderful surprise that I have promised not to tell.
I ate fine during the day and the good news helped keep me on track at night.
This morning I weighed in and did just fine. I'm up one measly pound and I know I can knock that off.

Lauren, Lin, and Bandit--thanks for keeping the site going. I would be happy to chime in with dinner hints and tips.

Lauren and Bandit, I know about the ups and downs of this program. Let's all just keep on concentrating on the positives and get exercise firmly into our lives while journaling. I shocked myself by how many BLT's I squeeze in in the day. It is true that all of them are perfectly fine foods, but I was never hungry when I ate them. I ate them because I was in the kitchen preparing foods. Not smart! I am going to buy some sugarless gum to pop in my mouth while I cook. Much better than what I've been doing. I remember now that I would make a cup of tea and drink that while I cooked and that helped too.

Everybody take care and do well. I'll be back at WW's next week after the babies' Christenings.
Love and good vibes,
Judy

Hi, Turtles,

I made a decision yesterday. I'm tired of stressing myself out over my weight. I realized that what's important to me isn't the numbers on the scale. It's eating a balanced diet, making sure that I get the nutrients I need to be healthy. It's getting enough water to be properly hydrated. I love the way I feel when I do my exercise tapes and walk regularly. The swimming pool is going to open in a few weeks and, if the weather holds, I'll start swimming again, too. Anyway, those are the things I plan to focus on. My weight can do what it wants to do. I support all of you wholeheartedly in your efforts to make the numbers go down and lose the inches. But I'm tired of worrying about numbers. Anyway, that's where I'm at these days.

Judy, your life sounds like so much fun. You deserve to enjoy it the way you do after all those years of teaching. :)

The sugar-free gum sounds like a good idea. I know what you mean about the BLT's getting to you. You'd think I'd have a problem with that, being a cook, but I only taste a tiny bit (mabye 1/4 teaspoon) at the end of cooking to make sure the seasoning is right. I nibble on the salad veggies when I cook sometimes, but I don't do a lot of tasting there.

Enjoy the christenings. Make sure you have a plan in mind for the party. ;)

I hope everyone else is doing OK. Are you moving? I'm becoming more and more convinced that exercise is the most important thing. :strong:

Hi, all.

Well, Lin, I can certainly understand, especially given all that's going on with your DH's job and finances. I hope there's some light on the horizon there.

I've been eating as though I didn't care if I gained weight, but I do. With my family history of diabetes and heart disease, I've got to. And I do want to feel that I look good, which is something I just don't feel when I'm heavier. I'm really struggling at the moment, which is typical for me this time of year but discouraging anyway. But I know that if I stop caring, I will gain all my weight back plus more. So I'll just deal with the frustration for a while until I get things back under control, I guess.

I agree that exercise is key; good for you that you're still doing that.

Judy, good for you only gaining a pound in spite of all that stress!!! Going to the ER with DH sounds quite scary. I'm so glad he's OK. What a relief that must be. Was it just stress?

And congratulations to your DD. :)

I'm down a bit from last week but still quite a bit up from the week before. TOM looms, and I've been eating everything that isn't nailed down. GACK. Well, today no matter what, I'm journaling. That's the only way for me to get back on track. I'm not sure why I stop; I think it's because I just want to eat unconsciously sometimes. Stress relief, I think. We've got some big changes with DH's job coming up, and we're both having some disagreements about money. I want to save like mad, because I'm quite concerned with what's coming. Well, we'll work it out. And God provides.

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/196.5

Hi everyone:

Glad you all are doing well. Had my w/i last night & was down 2.6# from 2 weeks ago.
So I was happy with that. Didn't make it to curves last night - had to pickup dd bf from school but am going tonight instead. Still will begin my journal at supper for another week to see if it will still help. Makes night-time eating more manageable & if I overdo it - it seems easier to cut back for breakfast & lunch. Anyway I will continue for this week.

Hope everyone has a great OP day & bye for now.

Hi Turtles, :cool:
Bandit, here's a huge :high: for dropping those pounds. Weigh to go! :clap:. You've got the idea--disappointment,overeat? Well, that's okay, just keep on doing the right things the rest of the time.

Here's a tip for a low point dinner that I love: 2 Boca breakfast sausages 1pt+ 3egg whites 1pt+ 1 lite Eng. muffin 1pt= a three point dinner that gets me full. This one is especially useful when I've eaten more than I wanted during the day. I know this sounds like breakfast, but I love it for dinner every once in awhile.

Lin,
:clap: eating healthfully and exercising to feel good are great goals! You've got all my support to help you do that. I love your ideas. This isn't the time to feel bad about yourself, and I know you can maintain your weight. I see you like to swim. So do I!

Lauren,
Man, Lent is tough! You're dealing with Lent, your dh's job changes, and TOM. Not fun! However, through the years you've gotten through so many challenges and I know you're up to this as well. Good luck and here's a :grouphug:

With my dh, it wasn't just stress, although I feel that added to his back pains. Of course I'm not a doctor. What seems to have happened is that the original antibiotic that his urologist gave him didn't knock out an infection. Once he went on Cipro, the infection was literally knocked out overnight. That led to better test results and he seems to be fine right now. We thought he might have kidney stones with resultant back pains, so we'll file that away in our heads right now and hope he doesn't have any more episodes.

The Christening was great. I cooked exactly twice as much food as I needed. I only had 16 people here. The celebration was great and I sent everyone home with food for the week. I ate more than I should have and I'm up three pounds. Ugh! So I have chosen not to go to WW's today. I know this can be dangerous, but this is my thinking: Dd won't be going to WW's for awhile, so I can choose any day I wish. I love my Wednesday group so I will weigh in in the morning and then attend my mtg. at 5:00p.m. I am choosing to WI in the morning because I found on WI day I would obsess about how much I would weigh. That's not very adult, so I figure I'll WI in the morning and then make it a productive day. If this doesn't work, I'll figure out something else. What I find is that it's important to keep on tweaking the program and what I'm doing to get the best results. I know I can do it with your support and help.

Love and good vibes,
Judy
234/?/thinner

Hi Turtles, :cool:
I have noticed something interesting about weight loss efforts. I notice that after I eat more than I plan or even want to eat, I either sulk and feel guilty *or* I energize myself and go onto a good spurt. My good spurt this time is to eat well within my points, journal every BLT (hard for me to do), *and* add time and energy to my exercise. Today I am OP big time and I exercised an extra 15 minutes for a total of 45 minutes. For those of you who know when I refused to exercise at all, this is a biggy.
So--Today I walked more than two miles and I did it for almost 50 minutes. I am very happy.

Good luck to all of us. It feels good to write something positive. Surely we'll lose weight if we keep on doing the right thing. :cp:

Hi everyone:

Tryharder - thanks for the encouraging words & WTG on the exercisting - great job.
Lauren - Keep up the journalling, I find it hard to stay with it when I overindulge - who really wants to see how much over they are eating.

I ate way too much fast food over the last few days. Seems when I have a nice loss I sabotage myself with overdoing it. Don't know why. Actually, I really don't feel well today - maybe it is just guilt or maybe too much junk. Anyway, I packed my lunch bag for today with my breakfast, lunch & snack so I am all set for the day.
Going to my curves tonight but am skipping ww tonight - think I will go tomorrow instead.

On a positive note - I won $1,000 jackpot at bingo Friday night and got a winners mug as well. Shared with bf & dd but my portion will cover the rest of my spending money for Vegas - so it was perfect timing.

Hope everyone is doing well & has a great OP day. Bye for now.

Judy, so great to read your positive note. You're keeping us going right now, I think. Look at you with the exercise, too! So impressive! Way to go.

Bandit, congrats on winning the cash. Yes, fast food makes me feel lousy, too. It's not even worth it to me most of the time.

It's been a nutsoid week, very busy with DB coming up and closing on his house, moving his stuff, etc. I shuttled him all over the place. Then I've got a ton of work to do, and all kinds of personal ickiness going on. And ... it's TOM! Woo-hoo.

I haven't been journaling. I discovered the emergency chocolate drawer at work and attacked that in a big way last week. And the scales show it ... I'm up 2 pounds. Maybe some of it is water, but I doubt it.

SO ... in the spirit of posting even when things aren't going well, here I am. Today I will almost certainly go over points, but I'm writing it down. It's the only thing, apart from being accountable to you all, that keeps me from going hog wild.

Next week, I hope to report something more positive.

Hey, I heard a robin yesterday! Spring is here!

Onward and downward (or at least not upward),

Lauren
274/198/DOWN

Hi everyone:

Lauren - good to get writing down everything even if it is over for the day. Just by writing down things I think it makes you at least realize what you are eating.
I still feel crappy but ate better yesterday & have my food for today with me.
That seems to help me alot. I pack up breakfast, lunch & snacks in my lunchbox for the whole day while I am away from the house. Then start counting my points again at supper - even this seems easier for me, especially if we go out for dinner. Easier to eat light for breakfast & lunch than supper.

Looking forward to the nice weather again - it has been a really long winter up here.
Even today, when I started my drive to work I drove through a mini-blizzard for about 10 minutes then into sunshine - go figure.

Still working on sorting out my house for renting. I think I told you before the young couple couldn't rent it since he got laid off - so I have been dragging my feet getting it cleared out but now it is almost ready to rent. Hopefully, I get some nice tenants and the extra income will help with my daughter going to university in the fall.
Still a little nervous about not having a place to run away to if things don't work out with bf but seems silly to have a empty house sitting there & me still paying for the running of it.

Thats all that is new with me - just finished my raisin bran breakfast and am getting back to my work. Bye for now.

Bandit,
I love that you pack up all your meals and snacks for the day. How smart. And also it's good to hear you tweaking your program to make it suit you better. Many people like to start their points at night, and I'm glad it's working for you. Good luck with finding a good tenant. I hear your uneasiness about dbf and all, but you still own your home and it's there for you if you need it. :cp: hooray for winning $1,000. That's amazing! You'll have so much more fun in Vegas now that you've got your trip paid for via Bingo. What fun. I also hear you about the sabotage. Man--I think that's what I did when I finally went below my 10% and it meant so much to me, and now I'm having trouble again. Up three pounds and too busy to write, etc.

Lauren,
I'm so happy you posted even though you're going through tricky times. :cp: You know you can do this. Do you want to prioritize or is this not the time? I'm sending you a big :grouphug: and the conviction that if you want to be OP you will. I want to remember good ole' Henry Ford more often and know that what I think determines what I do.

Yesterday and today have been perfect OP days with journaling, etc. The exercise hit me a little hard, so I had to stay off the treadmill for a couple of days. Tomorrow I'll be back on. Today I shopped really hard. Lin, does that count as moving and exercise?
I am going to WI tomorrow at WW's even though I won't like the numbers. On the + side, I ordered PXL at Coldwater Creek and most of the clothes fit, snuggly, but they fit! Can you hear me hollaring all over? I am so thrilled. I think the treadmill is helping to reshape my weight because I weigh the same or close to it, and yet everyone I met recently has mentioned how much thinner I look and I am in a smaller size. Yay!
Here's to all the good signs we have to recognize to keep ourselves going in this life long endeavor. (Hey, was that a pretty good way of verbalizing around the "diet" word?)

Gotta run--let's all keep on keepin' on.
Love and good vibes,
Judy

Judy, WOO-HOO on that PXL!!!! :cb: That's so exciting! :bravo: Isn't it fantastic to get out of plus sizes? I like Coldwater Creek, too. There's an outlet about an hour from our house, so if you're ever in SE Michigan ... :)

I'll bet it's the exercise, too. :tread: You've been so faithful, and it really does whittle down the curves.

Bandit, it's been a long winter here, too. But it's in the 50s today -- 50s and 60s for the rest of the week. Not sure what that translates to in celsius, but let's just say it's springtime finally in Michigan!

OK, I wrote everything down yesterday, and the grand total was ... 48 points. :yikes: That's just DOUBLE what my points are supposed to be! Wow. No wonder all my clothes are tight. :( Well, I'll keep writing it down. Today is high already, too. So my current goal is to bring down that number gradually. My first baby step is to keep writing everything down, no matter what. And then I plan to add back exercise. After those two things are in place, I'll aim at getting back into my point range.

This really doesn't end, does it? This May will mark my sixth anniversary since I started WW. The battle doesn't get easier. But it's worth it. I will never give up. Never.

Onward and downward,

Lauren

Hi Turtles,
Lauren, thanks for saying you will never give up! That's so important to me. I am fooling myself big time by taking a "little leave" from my WW mtgs. Who am I kidding?
Certainly not me, and certainly not any of you. I ate big yesterday and ate big today.
GScookies got to me, of all things. Proof in point that if I want to overindulge it doesn't have to be a holiday--anything will do it!
Today I've already eaten more than I should. On the other hand, if I have a famous low point dinner, I can pull this off. Also, I have on hand a microwave popper and plain popcorn that I like and that will fill me in when I get hungry.

So, thanks for the brave words and the journaling, Lauren and Bandit. Let's keep this going and make our goals. I'm up for it having detoured once again!

Las Vegas in smaller clothes for Bandit--
A happy can do attitude for Lauren,
And a smarter reality for Judy
And Lin--you're here too as our founder--I wish you lots of success with your writing.

Love to us all,
Judy

I'll start a new thread. See you all there.

-- Lauren