[amylou7777]

Congrats on landing your job Lettie! It definitely sounds like a good match, hours-wise. No weekends, no nights-home with the kids-you will love it. But I'm sure it will take a bit to get used to a new routine!

Barbara-Everything you said makes so much sense. I know I can do this w/o the COD-it's just a dissapointment. I felt like a made an investment and I'm not getting the return I bargained for. But....worse things could happen. As for xmas- I like your thinking. That's pretty much what I did for Thanksgiving....unfortunately I did it for 3 days in a row. This time-I'd like to stick to 1. I am about 10lbs behind where I wanted to be by this time-so I'm ready to catch up.

So...I went to say goodbye to my COD this evening. It was sad. The counselors seemed overwhelmed. They admitted they knew something was up as soon as the hours were cut-but they weren't getting straight answers from corporate. They gave me about 10 boxes of lites. I had ordered 20 from the 1-800 number they gave me. The shelves were bare at the center- so I HOPE that my "order" is legitimate and they show up on my doorstep like they promised. They gave me bunch of diaries and the menus for purple and gold. I am determined to stick with this!!

I'm trying to decide when to move to purple. Techincally it's when I hit 239-which I'm hoping will happen soon. I am doing a tues/thurs/sat "official" w/i so we'll see where I'm at tomorrow morning. I'm not ready to give up my 1/2 protein. I care more about that than the starch! Any thoughts for when a good time to move down is? Do I do a TO before starting?

Nicole-great to hear from you-no more MIA-I love your stories! You better get your hiney back down below 200 girl! You were doing so good for a while-I know you can find your rythym again....we are here for ya!

Kim- I hope your fear of tight jeans gets you back on track!! Great to hear the good news about your mom!

Dan-holy cow!!! Did you buy every delicious dessert costco has to offer? It almost makes me sick! I know what you mean about feeling so great when you resist---I love that feeling!

Has anyone noticed the new ads that are on these pages for Pure Weight Loss "now online"....HA! For you newbies- I'm sorry if the centers closing leaves you feeling duped. This is actually a great program that really works. Everyone here has so much knowledge about how it ALL works- it is very doable and we are here to help!

Lynn- where in So Cal were you visiting? Hope you had a great time! Welcome back!

Alright- off to bed!

Here's to a POP Thursday!

[amylou7777]

And yes- where oh where is...

Liza?

DebMT?

Katie?

Katy66?

Heather??
Pearl?
Anyone?

Night All!

[Lynx]

Amylou - I was in Oceanside. For those not familiar with California, Oceanside is 35 miles north of San Diego.
Also Amy, since you are going to a plan with lower calories, I would not think that you need to do a TO before you go to purple.

week 48
LAWL franchise center
total lost 60 lbs.
Current weight 140
Original goal of 50 lbs lost – achieved
New goal to lose total of 65 lbs

[smjezzy]

Woohoo! Finally went back done to my ticker weight actually .4 below. Just in time for the weekend!! Pray for me Nicole.

I have to keep this downward trend going. I have been doing much better at tracking and portion control and most importantly NOT EATING OUT. That really kills me. I've started tracking at s p a r k p e o p l e again. That also seems to help.

I'm still not getting in all my food (veggies and fruits) but I'm doing the best I can. Cutting myself back to allowable starch servings has been difficult. 6 lbs to go to get back to my lowest lawl weight. Slowly but surely.

Everyone have a POP day.

[EmilyLashea]

Good Morning All!

Lettie- Congrats on the job!

Nicole- You're so right about putting my health first.. it's just really easy to push to the back when there is so much to do!

Dan- You're a stronger person than I am! Don't even let there be cookie cake in the house with me or I'm doomed!

Ferarrimomof2 (sorry I haven't caught your name)- I am From North Alabama (Lawrence County).. Have thought so many times about moving to Mobile! DBf and I have talked seriously about it when I get out of school..


Hi to everyone else!! I'm at work and just trying to get this in between customers

I will be making a trip to COD to pick up all of my bars I've ordered and see if they will tell me anything.. pick up some extra diaries, etc.. Maybe they'll be straight forward with me. I'm not counting on it though...

Hey everyone. I haven't been able to check for a couple of days so it took me awhile to read up on all the happenings. It sounds like many of you are getting back on track and working hard. What motivation!! Keep it up, you might just inspire others!

My younger sister, who does daycare for us, announced a few weeks ago that she was expecting her 4th baby. Well, yesterday she started to miscarry the baby. It has been such a sad day! We will never understand why God chooses things like this to happen, but our faith allows us to believe the promises that He doesn't do this to hurt us. He has a plan, even if we can't see it. My sister wanted to have her daycare kiddos today, but i said no way. I took the day off and I have her daycare kids. Please pray her her and her family!

I hope everyone is having a great day! Stay focused on the reason for this time of year. I get caught up in all the food and shopping that I need to remind myself what is truely important!

Ok, I'm going to sign off for now because I am apparently in a serious mood and you guys don't want to hear all my reflections for the day Enjoy your day!

[smjezzy]

Stacy my thoughts and prayers are with your family.

[lizababe]

Hi Everyone!

I just finished reading through these six pages and tried to get through a few other threads. My apologies for neglecting this board!

I'll just get on with the excuses now...

Thanksgiving - I had company for a week and a half that was just supposed to be one night. That takes time away from the computer unforunately.

Disneyland - Mini Me and I FINALLY went to Disneyland to see it decorated for the holidays and it is beautiful! I'm so glad I took the time off to go. I'll put a few pictures at the bottom of this post.

Hanukkah - We only did the feast and service for one night, but did light the menorah each of the eight nights.

I know a lot of people get offended by this, but we do both Hanukkah and Christmas each year. I was raised both and my daughter is also of both backgrounds. Both are two entirely different celebrations (Hanukkah the celebration of the Jews uprising against the Greeks and Christmas obviously, Jesus' birth) so I really don't understand why anyone would be offended but that's how it is. Anyway, we do have a tree and I am happy to say I actually got all of my holiday shopping done way early. I surprised myself. I'm usually so last minute on those things but I was finished by the beginning of December. Gotta love online shopping!

So I haven't been POP and the worst part of it is getting in my exercise. I just saw that the free gym in my building added an eliptical so I intend to get some use out of that while it's still too chilly for running.

I've been gone too long to do too many personals so I'll try to catch up more next time.

Felicia - I LOVE the new avatar pic! What a difference!
Dan - Sorry about the knee. Thank you for dragging me back to where I need to be! I LOVE those peppermint mochas too. Here's a good way to order them that cuts the calories way down: As for non-fat milk and 3 pumps of syrup instead of 5. They taste just as good!
Jillian - you are also looking fantastic!
Kim - I'm glad to hear your Mom is doing good and came through everything ok!
Amylou, Joni and Nicole - hello hello hello!

And now for the pictures...The last one is of the ornaments we picked on our way out of the park.

[LizzyW]

Well hi everybody.

I don't have much time, but thought I would give a quick hello and let everyone know that I am still here. My goal is to stay below 170 for the holidays and so far holding true. Even when I go up I come right back down so that is going well. My project is really keeping me busy and I seem so tired. I can't wait for my 7 days of christmas vacation from work, Dec 24-Jan1. Woohoo.

Anyway, Have to run. I will try to get on more and get some personals in. Love to all.

Liz

[BarbaraB]

Liz, Good plan to just try to maintain when you are stressed and it is the Holidays. Don't work too hard or stress too much. I too find the mysteries of web screen development to be at times inscrutible. I feel like an old dog trying to learn new tricks....

Amy, I would hold off switching to purple until after Christmas. Hopefully you will get down to the "magic number" then, and it will be easier to manage the upcoming holidays with the few extra exchanges.

I totally understand how a little extra at a holiday becomes a few days of extras. I do think this is part of the learning to manage your weight, to get back on track after a holiday or a vacation. So Thanksgiving is a practice session for Christmas, where you get to see if you can do better and enjoy it more. Leftovers are dangerous though. If you are cooking, and it is something off plan, try to not make too much of it. I swear off plan leftovers will call to you from the refrigerator.

Liza, good to see you posting again. Good deal that you got some time off. I know a lot of people in my office celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. I don't personally see why you have to pick just one heritage to follow when you come from many. They can all be a part of who you are. I like doing the elliptical trainer, it is lower impact but still burns calories a good rate. I think until I got a lot of my weight off, trying to run on the tread mill was very hard on my feet and knees.

[ferrarimomof2]

Stacy,

My prayers are with you and your family. I am so sorry to hear about the miscarriage. I had one three years ago. Just remember like you said that God has a plan and knows what he is doing. He has a reason and you are right we will probably never know the reason. Just keep your faith.

Dionne

[dolphn545]

Hey Everybody!

Just poppin in for a quick hello. Found out yesterday that my COD will be closing, along with many others, on Jan. 4, so you will be seeing much more of me for support!!

Today was a snowy day here, and I think the COD was closed, so now I have to wait until Saturday to go in and get my lites (hopefully).

Hope everyone is ahving a great POP day!!

[amylou7777]

Hey guys!

Good to hear from you Liza! I've gone to Dland during the holidays for the past three years- but will miss it this year. Dbf and I just can't take the time off to go to my parent's house this year! My mom and dad went just the two of them and said it was beautiful as always! I love the pics!

Stacy- I hope your sister is getting better each day. I can't imagine how awful that must be.

Tina- how are you feeling today? I know you were knocked out yesterday-hope you are getting rest and feeling better!

Lynn- Oceanside is beautiful! I spend some time there when I lived in San Diego. Glad you had a great trip! I think you are right about the TO! Thank goodness!

Barbara-good point about switching! I'm going to wait. And I definitely was thinking of making a little of everything. I'm the type of hostess who buys literally twice as much as we actually need for fear of running out of food-and I'm trying to get out of that habit. I'm going to have a big variety-no one will go hungry! But there's no sense in having a pound of dip etc! Tgiving was definitely a test run! One day of splurge for me- that's it!

Well Thurs is one of my new official home w/i days- my scale showed me at 239!? Couldn't believe it. I'm going to move my ticker to 241-that's consistent with my COD scale which is usually 1-2 lbs higher-and hopefully over the next two weeks I will be able to mesh the two together so that I can rely on my home scale....we'll see! But I'm excited to report a loss- even if I don't know exactly wht I weigh right now....

Liz-good to hear from you! Don't work too hard!

Shannon- good luck getting back on plan. I had to stuff an apple down last niht so that I was getting everything in. Seemed silly-but it's a mind thing with me- I want to feel like I'm totally POP. You can do it!

Alright- going to go change my ticker!

Nicole---you still up?

[JerseyMadchen]

Ok, I admit I fell off the wagon the past two days. Yesterday I made an apple pie (with Splenda!-AMAZING!) and had 2 small pieces and had two breakfast sandwiches (with porkroll) on eng. muffin for dinner.

TOday I had grilled cheese at diner and sandwich on roll for dinner. Oh, and another piece of pie with whipped cream. That's it. I am not using hte closing as an excuse to binge! ARGH!

Because of this slip, I feel awful and sluggish. I didn't exercise like I should have today.

OK, enough griping! BACK OP TOMORROW!

Hope everyone is doing alright! GO GET OYUR BARS!

Nite all!

[Tuesday Cool]

Hello all, the closing of CODs across the nation is a little shocking. I was a little concerned when all the adds for the program tauted "the fastest growing weight loss" program. Fast growing does not equal good business planning!
The program is solid. but the fast growth of the new COD caused and over reliance on selling product and poor training of counselors.
I know that my COD only has (had? I have not seen her in a while) one knowledgeable counselor. Sheesh, you can learn more about nutrition and weight loss reading Oprah magazine!
Ah well, this time of year is slower at the shelter where I work so I get to spend some time catching up on getting animals spayed and neutered before adoption. Not having the feeling of running a race you cannot win helps me remember what I love about my job. What I can't believe is that we still have kittens! I declared Kitten Season over last month and they still poor in!
I leave for a Hawaiian holiday next Saturday. I am taking a pile of books, a load of magazines, and an aloha spirit!
Tuesday