Copying someone around here, I've started putting on my gym clothes as I get out of bed to make sure that gym is the first thing I do (after 3FC, of course). Works for me. Such a small tweak to the brain to be effective, as if changing into jeans would take too much time.

Bumped into some homemade cookies yesterday - Big Ouch. Cookies are a no-no for me because they have far more calories than appropriate for a mindset that a serving is a stack. At least they were good cookies. In my past life, I've been known to eat a stack of Oreo's.

Bill I too find the cookies to be a bit of a siren song and always end up wrecked on the rocks. But I am now immune to the charms of Mr. Christie and the like. Store bought are just too sickly sweet or greasy for me.

I am dogsitting. No TV. Interesting. Spent yesterday evening playing with the pets - 1 bulldog, 2 cats - and reading. Am now trying to master a Mac, after a power failure. Did manage to find the crucial button - ON - and my guest log in did reload - Hallelujah!

Next job is to try to reset the clock on the stove.

Good day all!

Dagmar

I can't claim to put on my gym clothes as soon as I get up. I go into the kitchen and start coffee first. While it's brewing, I go back to my room, where I laid out the clothes the night before (that's important, strangely enough, with no decision-making about which top to wear) and put them on. I have breakfast in my gym clothes. That tells me what my first business of the day is going to be. The thing that can delay me is turning on the laptop. I have to watch it, or I get sucked into the dark vortex of the Internet, in which time passes in an instant while I am unaware of it. (I include this site on the Dark Side before 6 AM, unfortunately.)

I'm scanning my body today, trying to figure out what's up with it. After three or four months of not having my time of month, I'm starting to get what I think are hot flashes. I couldn't decide if I was coming down with something -- I don't know, maybe malaria from all my mosquito bites this summer -- or if it really was my hormones flaring up before they are extinguished. I'm at the right age for this to happen.

I'm sick of not hearing from the furniture restorer in two weeks, so I'm calling today.

And I'm annoyed at being unable to use Wi-Fi in my home, so I'm making the annoying call to Bangalore, where my company's help desk was outsourced, to be assisted through my troubleshooting by some "Peggy" or another. This is not my favorite way to spend 45 minutes.

And I'm wondering who I can call to make the gas FINALLY work in my stove. I made crockpot curried vegetables over the weekend, actually frying the onions on my little Foreman. And gazpacho. This debacle has showed me how much I love roasting batches of vegetables every week, because I haven't been able to do it.

In short, I am in the mood to get on the phone with people and get ornery and get things done. Or, at least, scheduled to be done. Calendar on my desk. To-do list at my right hand.

Laying out clothes for the next day is one essential thing I have to do before bed, otherwise I'll be lost in the morning. But that rarely includes workout clothing in the morning. I've come to the conclusion that it works for me to work out after work--that also helps me to not snack as much or drink as much that afternoon and evening. Somehow the morning workouts help with morning snacking, but the effect wears off for the afternoon.

The heat is still on here and I discovered one item that my new car is lacking--the rear window power shade. I had it in my last car and have decided it is essential in the summer. It's not an item that can be installed after market, so I bought a cheesy alternative off of Amazon that will help, but isn't as cool.

We went to two movies this weekend: Killer Joe and Bourne Legacy. I'm still torn on Killer Joe--it's one of those movies that make you wonder just how people live like that, but it was also evil and violent. Bourne Legacy was really good--intense chase scene (DH said it was the best motorcycle chase scene he's ever seen) and really good story--even without Bourne actually in it.

DH leaves Thursday for a weekend of golf with old buddies in Park City, Utah. Hopefully he'll be home early enough on Sunday that we can catch a movie--I want to see Hope Springs (although I doubt DS will be interested in that one).

DD goes home to Fullerton today with her kitties. It's so funny how for the first day they are here they are terrified of the dog, but by the end of their stay they don't think twice of coming close to him. Hopefully her building manager follows through and gets her A/C fixed today. She was without it for three days before she came here.

Cookies are a No-NO in my house, I can't have just one. I am obviously a person with no will power where cookies are concerned.

So far, so good.

-Left a message with the furniture restorer.
-Checked in at work about my time off this week, and am waiting for confirmation from my manager. Will schedule stuff Upstate once I have that. That'll be two more calls right there.
- Have figured out what I'll do on my hour-long training session with two editors. Now if the "share screen" technology will cooperate ...

- Also made some measurements on an antique mirror that I need to hang. That's for lunch hour or a so-called coffee break, later.

After feeling deep lassitude all weekend, I am again a competent female, getting stuff done.

Sometimes it takes a lot to get into gear. I know the cooled-off weather helps considerably.

Good morning! Cookies are also a no-no in my house. I will eat them occasionally if I'm out somewhere or they have them at work, but there is no way I can bake up a dozen cookies at home and then not eat the entire dozen.

I regularly buy cookies for DS and I rarely get into them. At the beginning of summer, I bought an assortment of the packs you would send in your kids' lunch boxes--Nutter Butter, Oreos, Chips Ahoy. DS is slowly consuming them as they aren't a priority with him. Last night for his dessert, he chose Pop Tarts and hot cocoa (boy that's a sugar rush!).

Chips and crackers--those are my problem areas. But I do have an open bag of pita chips. Broken beyond being able to use them for dipping, they're a mess to eat, so there they sit. I should just throw them out.

Lately I discovered a very yummy cracker--Rosemary Mini Croccatini. They are just fabulous, but I am careful to dole out only four per day (and some days none at all).

Up until I moved I was baking cookies every week and taking them to church. Believe it or not I could only eat one maybe two, just to test them. I was only able to do that because if I ate too many I wouldn't have enough to take. They have been asking for cookie donations at the church I now attend, but I am not baking them I am buying a package or two, I don't want to take an opened package so that acts as a deterrent to me.Why can't I be a normal eater and eat a cookie, one cookie now and then ? One other things that shocks me are the people who get candy as a gift, ( See's is a favorite in California ) and can put it away and eat a piece once in awhile, I don't understand that at all.

Hi gang,
After going from 214 to my goal of 188 (I'm 6'4"), I became a maintainer a couple weeks ago. First project was to find a set point a little lower than 188, and lo and behold ten days later I am now at 183.4! Summer has been a time of extreme exercise: mountain climbs and hikes with thousands of feet of gain, bike rides up steep mountain roads for hours on end, etc.
I've learned a couple important new things:
1) For our anniversary we went out to dinner. Even tho I asked for low sodium, salt is everywhere. Despite having no drinks, no appetizers and no desserts, and a rather humble fish dish, I gained two pounds. Got discouraged but lost the two pounds the next day once I got the salt flushed out of my system. So: when going out, eat reasonably, and take a scale break the next day... and stay honest!
2) 100 calories of dark chocolate a day is OK but I am avoiding cookies etc.

When I get down to round 181 or 182 I will start slowly bringing rice and bread back in and really start maintaining. But losing is still fun so what the hey. What a great feeling!

Congratulations , Chris on maintaining. Maintenance can be an uphill battle.It looks like you are finding the right method for you. keep up the good work.

Oh, and as for cookies .... What is a cookie, again? I don't let them in the apartment. I don't eat them elsewhere anymore. I don't even look at them directly if I can help it. Look, a categorical ban on certain substances works well for me. I'll rethink that if I need to, but right now, I'm doing okay without eating them at all.

Mad! Mad! Mad! Mad! Mad! Mad! Mad! Mad! Mad! Mad!

And not about the cookies!

Can I just move away from this building right now? It's not bad enough that we've discovered Imported Red Fire Ants, but that we are expected to pay rent for the vacant suite next door because our landlords can't be bothered to rent it themselves! Yes, that's right--we're being forced to pay the rent next door until we're able to find tenants--in this economy and in an industrial area that is only about 50% occupied. Sure we've had a lot of "lookers" but they realize that the amount our landlord is charging is a bit higher than the competition, so they don't want to rent from us. Well, there was one willing to pay--but it was a Medical Marijuana distributor. We don't need that type!

And if you read my rant last week...yeah, same person.

We really need to sever all ties with this yahoo, and SOON!

(P.S. Thanks for letting me rant again!)

Ditto the no-cookies pledge. I bake them about twice a year when DS gets insistent, and while I rarely get the sweet cravings, I can make a darn good chocolate chip cookie that I find very difficult to resist. I may have to try the next batch with M&Ms. The chocolate is not only inferior, but I have the advantage of the negative-reinforcement training with the "colorful candy shells". I'll bet I could leave those alone!

I have achieved Sofa King Tired. Not a good start to the week. I decided to check out "Extreme Makeover - Weight Loss Edition" and why I stayed up til 11 to finish it, I don't know. Same production content with the silly scale readings and commercial break timing as "Biggest Loser". The M*A*S*H* rerun that preceded it was far more entertaining.

My roommate is a recreational baker with a super active collaborative dessert blog with our other baker friend in London who also happens to own a food stall. Fortunately she's also on the "healthy eating most of the time except ice cream four days a week" bandwagon, so few disasters happen.

Lifted this morning. Gonna jog with my boyfriend this afternoon, assuming the grey sky doesn't crack and spill down torrents of stormy weather. I am mustering up the courage to ask my boss for time off to make a quick 5-day trip to London to visit friends in November. That'll be a good incentive to stay trim - I want to buy lots of clothes over there.