#224 Bale of Turtles Scaring Up A Weight Loss!

[bandit2]

Hi turtles:

Lin - that is great way to handle dining out. Good for you.

Judy - hope your weigh in is good too!

CHerry - congrats on the weight loss. Keep it up!

Princess - Where are you? Hope you are OK - chime in when you get a chance. We miss you.

As for myself, last night went to epicure party & ordered 3 things of different spices & all are lower in sodium than store bought, so that is a good thing.
It was lots of fun sampling the different dishes. Only downfall, was we used nacho chips & nan bread for dipping. But I did not have any wine.
So, hoping to be OK tonight at the scales. But seems all these little
BLT's (bites, licks & tastes) are what get me into trouble.

Have to wait & see.

Good luck everyone!

[Itryharder]

Bandit, here's hoping for a : for you tonight. for avoiding the wine. WEigh to go!

Lin, I like your attitude toward dining out. Every time we try something new and it works, we've got a good habit in the making.

As far as me, yesterday I ate full point allowance (right now it's 22 points for me). Usually before a WI I eat eggwhites and keep my points lower. I realized that's a silly thing to do. No sense in depriving myself of the right number of points in any day. So, the scale was up a tiny bit. .2# this week. I hate to see the scale move up, but it's a smidge and this is a more realistic way of handling my weight loss. I've got a lot to go, but right now I'm concentrating on losing the next four pounds.

Go Turtles!
Judy
234.6/194.2/190 and well into onederland

[LaurenH]

Good job, everyone -- lots of losses here! And over Halloween, too, which is major.

Halloween is, for many people, the kickoff of two months of holiday-related overeating. So this is a time to be especially aware of what we're doing.

My Halloween didn't go as well as I'd hoped, what with the scotch and all, but it was a lot of fun. Back on the wagon Sunday and Monday, then DH showed up Monday evening at work as a surprise, and we went to an Indian restaurant. NOT low in calories. Back on the wagon Tuesday, but today I'm up 2 pounds. Sheesh!

But had another good OP day today and will again tomorrow and the next day, etc. So it will come back off. I must say, though, I'm tired of maintaining. Apparently not quite tired enough to do what I need to do to move downward again, though. I can live with that for now, and through the holidays, actually. If I simply maintain over the next two months, that's OK. (And still a lot of hard work.) After that, though -- look out!

NaNo is going OK. I've been meeting my daily word goals, though it feels a bit like pulling teeth. Trying not to think about how awful the prose and story are at this point. It's all about the process right now. It really takes a lot of discipline to do this, which is good for me.

Lin and Judy, how are your NaNo stories coming along?

Bandit, I love your social life.

Cherry, congrats on that loss!

Msmeri, yes, taking in an extra 120 calories a day of sugar will tend to put weight on unless one does something to counteract it.

Hope you all have a wonderful, OP day.

[Itryharder]

Hi Turtles,
Brief update on my NaNoWriMo novel. It's hysterical! I love writing, but I'm writing a mystery and I've never done that before. I have a feeling that if anyone actually read this I could put the sleeping pill manufacturers out of business. No, I'm going to have a positive attitude, and I love the character development I'm doing and I like the connections I've established among my characters. However, plot is something else and I've never written or attempted to write anything this long before. My forte is poetry and very short short stories, so this is a stretch. So far so good on the word count. I'm such a nerd, I actually calculated and wrote down how many words i'd need to hit each day in total to stay on track. Egads. Anyway, I consider it a challenge and I'm happy with it so far. If it doesn't go anywhere in a week or two, I'll segue into another plot and keep it going that way.

Lin, how are you doing?

Good luck to all the turtles!
By the way, I bought some peeled and cubed butternut squash, roasted it in the oven with a tiny bit of olive oil and nutmeg and cinnamon and declare it delicious! It's not a zero point veggie, but it's cheaper than potatoes and worth the point or two.
Judy
234.6/194.2/190 onward and downward!!!!

[msmeri]

Cherry ~ half a pound that's super! Right on target

Judy ~ I try to keep WI day light as well but...we have a dinner together and we always try something new. Last week it was a lasagna type dish with whole wheat noodles. And shall we just say to much garlic bread even though it was whole grain. We do get in a min of 30 min workout together if the husbands keep a reign on the snot monsters


Tonight it is Mexi Shells Jumbo Pasta shells stuffed w/Hamburger, beans, green chilies, ground cumin, chili powder, chopped onion, and skim mozzarella cheese
4 cans of tomato sauce, flour, cilantro
7 points for 3 shells
from a WW cookbook

Bandit ~ OMG I have never hear about the BLT's before but I sure do know all about them!

Lin ~ Way to go can you put that will power and knowledge in an envelope and send it my way?

[Itryharder]

Hi Turtles,
MsMeri, that Mexicali dish sounds great. I think yourWI WW's group including family is so social.

Right now I'm thinking of having an open house during the holidays. A chance for the gals I know to stop in, have a cuppa tea or coffee and some snacks and sit down and chat for awhile. I did a get together like this when I was in my mid-thirties and it was one of the most fun activities I ever did. I have to think this through carefully since I'd want my house to be sparkling clean and all set to go. Who knows? But at least it's a thought of something fun to do.

Today I have planned out all meals. I've been eating soup instead of salad for lunch and I think it's time to head back to salad for a change. I'd love to drop a real pound this week, so I need to watch it. Especially since it's dh this week and he's requested a high caloric dinner (not if I eat small portions---I've gotta keep it real).

Okay--we're getting close to the weekend. Everybody drink that water, move more, eat less and let's get on with it!
Judy
234.6/194.2/190 and deeper into onederland

[Lin S]

Bandit, I really understand the bites, licks and tastes. I'm a cook. I have to taste for seasoning. I keep the tastes as small as possible and make sure I don't use all my weekly and activity points. I figure the ones I don't use cover those BLTs. So far, so good. I really don't want to have to try and figure out how many points they are because the amounts are usually so small they'd be 0, but added together they might need counting and I don't know how to know when I've racked countable points, if that make sense.

Judy, I think it's wonderful that you've decided not to eat differently before weighing. The thing is that what we do for the day before really doesn't make that much difference. It's the overall pattern that matters, what we do day after day. That's why one messup doesn't derail our loss. It's when we take that messup, beat ourselves up, think "what's the use?" and keep messing up that we regain the weight. But when our pattern is to get back on track immediately after a messup, we may slow our loss, but we will keep losing. So, way to go.

Your open house sounds like a great idea. You'll have fun and all the food and beverages will be in your hands, so you can plan ahead and stay OP while having a great holiday party.

Congrats on your NaNo progress. Sounds like you're having a fun time with it.

Lauren, on Halloween. Maybe you could manage the holiday season by planning which days will be celebration days and which will be regular days where you follow the plan? I'm rooting for you. I think with some thinking ahead, which you're so good at, you could end up with a loss, even if it's a small one, by Jan. 1.

Congrats on your NaNo progress. Yes, NaNo is about the process. And it's great that you're not agonizing over every word. First drafts are never perfect, as you know. So, have fun with it, since that's really what NaNo is about--loving writing.

Ms. Meri, the interesting thing is it isn't will power. I've never accomplished anything due to sheer will power. It's just building habits a little bit at a time. And changing the way I think about it all. Good luck to you as you develop new habits that work for you. You're doing it, too.

Today is my weigh in day. I lost another three pounds, with the requisite warning message from the WW site. But my one month average is 1.9, which is right on track. If my next week's weight loss is large, I'm going to recalculate my points based on the next higher level of activity. So, a bit closer to onderland and down I go.

NaNo update: I've had two days where I couln't get time to write, but I've written something on the days I could. I'm behind where I need to be, but I hope to catch up over the weekend. It's just that time-stealing things keep happening and I have no control over them. Then my writing time gets eaten up. So, I'm hanging in there. This is a fun story, so I'm motivated to keep going, whether or not I hit 50K. And DH said I could leave the dishes for him to do and write instead.

Happy turtlin'!

[Itryharder]

Go Turtles!
Lin, what a fabulous weight loss, again! : You must be sooooo happy. You are so close to onederland and youknow we're all pulling for you.

Weigh to go!
Gals, we're getting some good news here so let's keep it going. Off to eat my salad for lunch.

Judy
234.6/194.2/190 deeper and deeper into onederland

[Itryharder]

Go Turtles!
Lin, what a fabulous weight loss, again! : You must be sooooo happy. You are so close to onederland and youknow we're all pulling for you.

Weigh to go!
Gals, we're getting some good news here so let's keep it going. Off to eat my salad for lunch.

Judy
234.6/194.2/190 deeper and deeper into onederland
Hi Guys, I had trouble with the site and ended up duplicating my message. Sorry

[msmeri]

Had 2 pop in and give a shout out:

Made this fancy breakfast this morning; first time since I started in January

large eggs/margarine
orange bell pepper chopped
tomatoes diced
grated Montray jack cheese
jumbo biscuits like pop n fresh
J/D reduced fat sausage
coffee/pumpkin pie creamer 3 tbsp
apple/strawberry juice 8oz

served my plate
figured out to 24 points

was using my calculator & journal as I ate
with all the food wrappers on the table(gross)


and, and, and,

get this....
I walked away from half of it!
I realized I did want too eat it cuz I feel I have not had "real" food since January but when I thought about it I would not be eating for hunger!
So I gave it to DH.

so I kept the juice / coffee points and figure it to be only 17 points. Still high considering my normal breakfast runs 7 points during the week. But if I was able to make a major shift in my reasons for feeding myself I might be getting to something life changing!

crossing my fingers, here

[Itryharder]

You Go MsMeri!!!!!! that's a great accomplishment.
Judy

[Lin S]

Hi!

Wow, Ms. Meri. That's a wonderful new step for you.

Thank you, Judy, for the congrats. It is a good feeling.

I had a very frustrating day today. I've already eaten 5 weekly points and I haven't had dinner yet. The stewardship committee provided lunch at church today in honor of stewardship Sunday. I had a meeting after the lunch, so I was pretty much stuck with what they offered. It was awful! Prepared sandwiches and wraps with mayonnaise. Potato salad, again loaded with mayo. BBQ and potato chips. Huge cookies. There was no way I could eat enough to be satisfied without eating major points because there were no low-fat or healthy choices. The only veggies were olives. No salad, no fruit, essentially nothing healthy. And it was so unsatisfying because none of it really tasted very good, either. I suspect they ordered it from a grocery store or Costco.

I'm going to eat a normal dinner, prepared by me!! It will mean eating more points for the day than I'd prefer, but I do still have 20 weekly points to spend and I won't come close to spending them all. But it's going to mean some leaner days than I'd like the rest of the week. It makes me really angry because I didn't have any healthy options and I couldn't leave because I didn't have a specific time to be back for my meeting, which was "after the lunch". I did complain at my meeting and our community life director was there. I don't know if she'll pass it along. I also was glad I wasn't vegetarian, or worse, vegan. There was nothing for them to eat at all, not really.

So, I guess I'm venting. This whole weight loss thing is hard and our culture is designed to make it even harder. Anyone who loses a significant amount of weight and keeps it off while living a normal life deserves a medal because normal life makes it easier to stay fat. So, pat yourselves on the back for even attempting this. And give yourselves a double or triple pat for the success you've all managed.

I'm still behind, but still writing on my NaNo Novel. I haven't given up.

Keep on turtlin'!

[Itryharder]

hi Turtles,
Oh Lin, I hear you loud and clear. It must feel as though you were sabotaged. Ugh. Some of my local committees are taking the hint and they are getting fruit platters along with the pastries and baked desserts. And some of them are getting crudite platters. But when it's sandwiches loaded with mayo, etc. your choices are spare. Luckily you've got the extra points available, and you did the best you could have under the circumstances. Vent on, dear girl. It's fine and we can take it!!!


Today was stressful again for me and my food reflects it. Nothing too terrible, but I've got to tighten up. I'll be super careful for tomorrow and Tuesday, but still eat my points. That should make the week end okay for my WI. I've also gotten on the this week and that's a big help.
My dh read my NaNo novel as far as I've written and he thinks it's good which is hysterical, but I know every once in a while a page writes itself and that's when I'm in touch with something inside of me that wants to come out. I've also lightened up on myself believing everyone who's saying that this is practice and that this novel doesn't have to be perfect.


Okay gals, take care and be well.
Judy
234.6/194.2/190 and into onederland

[Itryharder]

Whew! Am I having a tough day today. I'm being called on to baby-sit a lot this week by my dd and it won't be easy to work in, but I'll do it. In the meantime, I'm up at least a pound and don't know why. I'm hoping it's salt from spaghetti sauce that is doing this. I WI tomorrow at WW's and I was hoping for a loss, and now I may be facing a gain. Please send me good vibes.
I'm thinking about all of you and wishing you well.
Judy
234.6/194.2/190 and deeper into onederland

[khunter]

Hi turtles. My name is Kelly and I just wanted to congratulate all of you on your weight loss and your NSV's. I have about 10 more pounds to lose and have maintained the same weight (up a few...down a few) for the past several weeks. I'm actually OK with this because I understand that weight loss is a lifetime issue and maintenance is a BIG part of that. I also understand that this is the hardest time of year for weight management and maintenance in itself is a great accomplishment.
I would love to keep checking in and seeing everyone's stories and adding a few of my own.
Good luck to all!