I'm doing much better. It takes me a while to get over things, but if I'm patient, I do recover. And it's snowing this morning! We look to have gotten at least 5 inches overnight. Unlike those of you in northern climes, we in the DC area don't get much snow. And I grew up in tropical Houston, where it hardly ever snows, so the excitement of waking up to a world gone all white and wonderfully hushed never fades. It's a great day for reading and for writing letters—just my style.

My diet continues to be boring but pleasant, at least for me: cream in my coffee, sliced turkey, cheese sticks, and an occasional package of macadamia nuts (low carb!). Every few days Bob makes me a marvelous Mexican omelet: that's my one gastronomic delight. Strange to say for a person who was once 351 pounds, I've never been big on food in general—just sweets. Now that I've given up sweets, I like my fuel needs to be simply and easily satisfied.

I seem to have injured a muscle in my right lower back doing my leg exercises, and last night it was spasming, so I had to pamper it with slow yoga stretches. It's a good bit better today, but I think I'll have to work out just my left leg for a few days.

Larry— OMG, you did a 40-day fast w/ just water! That's not a fast, that's a hunger strike! You must've been quite the crazy guy in the wild ol' 1970s, if you don't mind my sayin' so. The nuttiest thing I ever did, and this was as a teenager, was an apple diet. I loved apples, and I had this notion they were super-healthy, but I figured even I could only eat a few hundred calories worth of apples every day. Sure enough, I didn't eat more than three or at most four a day, for about 10 days, I think. I lost weight, but the sad part of this story is, I lost my taste for apples for a looooong time.

Ubee— I'm glad to hear you're sleepin' well, startin' to get moving. By the way, that thing I told you about drinking a cup of broth, for the sodium? I don't think that's in Dr. Atkins's book. I read it in a book called The Art and Science of Low-Carbohydrate Living, which I don't exactly recommend, because it's heavy on the science part, even too heavy for me. But then, I stopped reading it pretty early in, and never got to the "art" part. I was too busy studying French at the time. =sigh=

Terra— You got to have a piece of pie? Man, I'm envious. =laugh= Maybe I should have a whole cherry pie on my birthday, instead of dark chocolate. I'm just kidding, but the funny thing is, cherries are associated with the day I was born, because it's Washington's birthday. Do people still learn the apocryphal tale about Washington and the cherry tree, or am I showing my age?

Jane— If you get greedy over feta, maybe you should go on a low-carb diet. I'm a nut for cheese, so when I (rarely) get bored with my routine, I can eat feta, brie, camembert, wensleydale, any ol' cheese I want. But you do have to eat it straight—no crackers or bread.

Dean— You're a stronger man than I, Dean, to be able to drink s'mores coffee without craving some actual s'mores! Ditto for your donut and carrot cake and other bizarre coffees. All those smells would just drive me into a frenzy of sugar desire. =brrrr=

Melissa— 'Glad to hear you had a better day. I'm lookin' forward to hearin' more about how this semester's goin' for you. What classes are you teaching?

Betsy— I agree with you on the "respect bordering on awe" for the job that nurses do. It didn't take me very many months into medical school before I concluded that nurses should be paid way more than doctors. I actually worked as a baby nurse for a while: pulling 16-hour shifts during which I had 7 or 8 newborns to keep fed and changed was an excellent form of birth control. =laugh=

Donna, Andrea... where are you guys? I'm thinking about you!

Gurlnextgen Many people believe that weight loss is made in the kitchen and that exercise isn't necessary. I will say that personally, I feel and sleep so much better when I exercise,and I look better. I hated it so much when I started and now I can't live without it.

Fiona I do eat low carb! I'm almost completely paleo except that I can't part with cheese. I am considering giving up cheese for lent though!

Its funny, but the smell of the different coffees seems to help satiate that "want" of the treat... If I can't have the ooey, gooey, whatever, the smell seems to work pretty well for me. Fortunately, I LOVE coffee, anyway, so its a pretty good tradeoff.

I lean towards the low carb myself, even though I'm loosely following WW points plus.

And a good, sharp cheddar, or blue cheese would be MUCH more enticing to me than the sugary stuff. I like the sugary stuff well enough, but it doesn't send me over the edge like a big platter of cheeses, salami, etc. Hmmm, some smoked gouda, or brie sounds pretty good, too.

mmmm, cheese... LOL.

Take care,

Dean

Fiona ~ Yes it was very good, Once in a blue moon its okay to treat yourself. Im not sure if the whole Lincoln cutting down the cherry tree is taught in schools anymore but I do remember learning about it when I was in school.

I got one of my walks in today and I'll walk 2 more times before bed. Have a nice night everyone.

Good Evening!
Terra your lunch out sounds wonderful. I love eating a satisfying meal out, being totally waited on. I notice it is late and you still have 2 walks to go. Did you get them in?
Dean I love cheese too. I appreciate a 7 year aged chedder.
Jane I've been lurking in carb counters and learning a lot from you. What kind of healthy fats do you use?
Fi so glad you are improving! Do you eat anything green on your diet? You sure are making me hungry for macadamian nuts. Going to have to get some. I asked my daughter if she knew what kind of tree George chopped down and she did not have a clue. They must not teach it or she would have remembered that. I know you do leg lifts. Do you do arm exercises also?
Welcome gurlnextgen! I am guilty of not exercising regularly. It is something I am working on. It is healthy for so many things other then toning and losing. If I am sincere about getting healthy, which I am, I need to do this. I am aiming for 20-30 minutes 5 times a week. Jane is right weightloss is 90 percent diet 10 percent exercise. Give or take. Studies have shown that people who keep it off best do exercise. My advice should you want it, is to research everything to find what you can live with. Do not be afraid to change things along the way. Good luck!
Larry, Larry, Larry! you give new meaning to water boy! Do you think you may be an all or nothing kind of guy?
Still missing some friends on here. Thinking of you all!
I did it. I exercised today. It does help me sleep. It also feels like all the toxic junk is leaving my fat cells and whooshing through my body.
Sleep well.

I have always said "Those of us who are a few bricks short have more fun than the rest of you"

Good Morning!
Larry you are so funny! That is true. I always tell my husband "Well at least you can not complain that your life is boring."
The cat woke me up this morning because he needed to sing his song. Now he will sleep all day.
Yesterday I made on plan cookies. They taste good. I forgot about them until I walked by them on the cooling rack in the room near the kitchen this morning. Never in a million years would I have forgotten about cookies in our house. I love this WOE! I still have to learn portion control but my body is starting to let me know when it is hungry and it is still working on full. Maybe if I try to eat at a moderate pace. It is a great thing to know that, that part of me can be fixed. I am now working on stopping mindless eating. The urge to binge is gone. A whole new world has opened up to me.
Have a good day!

Drive by, I'm stalled out around 311. I had a bad week foodwise still. On monday , I bought a loaf of bread, and sandwich fixings and ate sandwhiches all week at work. It was healthy by other people standards, a week of indulgence by mine. Processed meat :-| and Cheese, and Pickles.

I also made sushi on wednesday night, a friend wanted me to show her how. mmm white rice (pure sugar I know :-|) i cut myself off at a certain point but still... I haven't made that since before christmas because my rice maker broke and I hate making rice on the stovetop (I'm too ADD for it ) anyways we made way too much and shared it with her cousin iand texted a friend to come help us eat.

Then last night I had a couple glasses of wine :-\ We did a Killer SKIP and Sculpt class and a friend told me I should go to our other friends and have a drink after supper, I found the energy after my shower/supper to bring a bottle of wine across the street (or practically a short short walk up the hill) and played with my crochet and chit chatted.

Tonight I am determined just to stay in and make myself clean my house is reaching critical conditions again and needs to be dealt with if I want to enjoy myself on saturday. (Valentines day formal... I'm going solo... ) Hopefully my stubborness lasts!

Silent! I am so happy to see you! I was afraid you wouldn't show back up untill Spring. 311 is fine. Not too long ago you were stuck in the 320's. Try to maintain until you get your feet back under you.
Ugh with the house work... My dust is a thick white film. I found all the stuff for the Goodwill box in the laundry again! argh!
What is a Killer SKIP and sculpt class?
Have fun at the formal. What are you wearing?
I am trying really hard to eat the foods that encourage weightloss and not the maintnence foods. Nuts and cheese stall me.
Have a good day!

Lets not talk about the house... We've got a beautiful new home, with gorgeous DARK hardwoods. Seems you see every bit of dust, and construction dust still seems to just materialize from time to time, LOL.

Ick...

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!!!

Dean

Ubee - Skip and Scupt, is a class, where after your usual warmups (or our usual warmups it's usually step class) of intervals of Skipping (3minutes) and then 3 minutes of weights. We were a little "slow" but got in 8 skipping intervals and 8 weight intervals in addition to our warmup and cooldown. Our instructor said a "full class" is 10 so we did pretty good. I did a lot of "basic bounce" instead of actual skipping and even did my own random cardio things because I just can't jump that much. So everyone elses workout was way more intense but my legs still felt like jelly after.

Ubee I cook with coconut oil, eat lots of eggs and meats like duck and lamb. Very satiating and flavorful. The bulk of my carbs is green veggies, but I do eat cheese.

VWdeano I hear you on the dust and the dark hardwood. Ugh! I feel like I will never get my house back up to par after this last go around with renos.

I'm kicking myself a little. I had hardcore cravings yesterday - think I was finally back into ketosis, and I fought them off, even lost another .7 of the water I was carrying this morning. But it's valentine's day, and I went to see my nephews, and there was pizza and I overdid it massively.

I'm not going to beat myself up, but I'm a little disappointed because I had a planned cheat for Tomorrow/Sunday, and this just puts me that much further behind.

Thinking I may fast until I get to my moms tomorrow, and take the dogs for a nice long run to burn off some of that excess. FYI - I feel like crap. I had a full blown physical reaction to that crappy food. Oh well, serves me right!

The dog I'm watching is in heat. Blood everywhere when I got there today. Not fun. Now I know why my BFF is so gung ho about paying me for doing this!

gurlnextgen ~ Welcome 2 The Thread

Ubee ~ Yeah I usually do my 1st walk of the day at 11:00 am and then the 2nd at 2:30 pm and then the 3rd one before bed but yesterday thats not how it happened but I did walk twice last night before bed.

Bob and I have been goin' through a rough couple of days. His sister called him and laid a MAJOR guilt trip on him for not being more involved in the lives of various children in the family, especially his niece and her 7-yr-old son. It was nasty, because she got it all mixed up with the feelings from her messy divorce which took place 30 years ago and what she felt like as a single mom. Ugh. Poor Bob. He has treatment-resistant depression, and she's doing this to him!

Bob and I are an anomaly in his ever-expanding family for two reasons: (1) we have a successful marriage, and (2) we chose not to have children. We also both suffer from mental illness. So while we empathize with the problems of the profusion of single parents, we just don't feel like it's our job to be babysitters for them.

But it looks as though Bob may have been bullied into providing after-school care for the 7-yr-old. Bob is both extremely agoraphobic and social-phobic, so this is going to be really stressful. And of course his sister thinks it will be good for him: he hates it when people try to tell him what would be good for him. We're going over to his niece's place on Sunday to see what the deal is.

I am on the brink of buying cookies in response to all of this! I don't want to have a 7-yr-old whose only interest is in video games in our house! We don't even have any video games...I am SO craving sugar.

Good Morning!
I didn't exercise yesterday so I didn't sleep well. My house is out of food. Need coffee...
I am lying to myself about how when this and this happens it will be easier to lose weight. I've got to stop that. I have a good plan. I need to stop eating the seldom/moderation foods all the time.
Fi family can be so frustrating. I bet she would love to do collages with you, if you feel up to sharing that part of your life. Tell Bob I hate it when people tell me what would be good for me also. It is as bad as when they inform me as to what I am feeling. Uh oh I may be a little negative today. Family is stressing me out also. Wishing you all the will power to stay away from the cookies. Trust me they do not make bad family members disappear!
Terra were you able to go to your meetings this week?
Jane I too get a full blown reaction if I have even the smallest amount of crap. It is getting so bad it scares me.
Silent so funny. I thought it was an art class with a zombie theme! I am so impressed with how active you are. Have fun tonight.
Dean maybe you could put some swiffer things on your doggies paws and make them earn their keep.
Larry good job taking care of your wife with vertigo. Being dizzy is scary.
Have a good day everyone!