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 about two 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 work toward accepting that our bodies have a natural speed of weight loss when we choose to live a healthy life, instead of "going on a diet". Many of us have experienced "the diets" as go on/lose weight-- go off/ gain the weight plus more back.
We choose to perservere with each choice we make throughout the day. We believe that choosing to be slow, steady turtles helps us to learn the skills we need to learn in order to not only lose the weight, but keep it off and become the healthiest people we can be.
So, welcome to all who realize that losing and maintaining a weight loss is a lifestyle change. And who want support as we all learn the skills we need to successfully make the changes that will allow us to reach our goals.
Happy turtlin', everyone!
Lin
PS--There's a new post from me yesterday on thread #22, if anyone is interested.
Lin and Lauren, thanks for the welcome. I'll try not to wait to come here just to complain
Lauren, sorry about your sniffles--at least we know you didn't get if from me! If you're not running a fever and your chest isn't hurting, getting warmed up from exercise might actually even help you fight the cold. I can sometimes get rid of the beginning of a cold by going for a brisk walk, then coming home, jumping into a hot bath, and spending the rest of the evening bundled up drinking hot tea. My theory is that increasing my body temperature scares away the bugs.
I played hookie yesterday and went skiing all afternoon. I telemark ski--well, let's just say I used to know how to telemark ski, back in my youth. Now I just know how to mostly control my fall down the mountain! I'm already getting very sore, because I used all kinds of muscles I don't usually pay attention to, and my back is a little sore from the spills I took. But what fun it was!
I skied for 4 hours, but to be conservative and take out lift time and time spent trying to get the snow out of my shirt, I'm only counting it as 2 hours of exercise. I already used up more that that in points--I knew if I didn't eat something pretty heavy last night I'd be out-of-control hungry today, so ate a full dinner last night.
Lin, thanks for the encouragement. Lots of things in my life are in flux right now, so I think I need to cut myself a break. My weight is something I've always beat myself up about, and this is a time to be standing up for myself, not cutting myself down. Even WW has been about being "in control", as though the real me was out of control. I need to start seeing that eating well and exercising aren't ways to be in control, but to take care of myself.
Anyways, I hope your feast tonight is a success, and everyone have a great weekend.
My feast went very well, Lenore. Thanks for the good wishes.
I envy you your willingness to hurtle down a mountain, but with my lack of depth perception, skiing isn't my sport. But I'd love to find something I could do for four hours and love it!
I love that attitude--taking care of yourself is the best way to look at this journey. I'm a believer in treating myself with gentleness. It's too easy to sabotage my own efforts by being so hard on myself that I could never live up to my own expectations.
The past couple of days and the next few are my monthly challenge. I'm so bloated and uncomfortable right now. It's so hard to stay within my point range those last few days before TOM. So, I'm trying to eat healthy things and eat enough to be satisfied. If I don't, I get crazy and really overeat. Then I put on pounds that aren't water and get on that gain and lose the same weight every month cycle. I also am working on keeping up with my journal. I don't get as crazy when I write it all down and when I keep up with my general journal.
Hope all of you are doing well. Looking forward to hearing from those of you who post less frequently.
Lin, I hope it ends and you feel back to normal soon!
Lenore, welcome! (Why is it that most of the turtles are L's? Am I missing something? Beth and I are the only holdouts!)
Wedding is on saturday, priest has a ruptured blood vessel in is eye and may or may not be able to perform the ceremony. Yipes! British family are beginning to arrive. I HAVE A CLEAN HOUSE! YAY! No, really. DF told me on Friday night that family were due in Saturday tea-time, so I did a bit of flapping about and then got serious and cleaned this place up (I had been letting it slide so I could deal with school). So I have a clean house!
Beth, we're planning just that kind of honeymoon--the "hide in a cabin in the woods" kind. We'd like to just get away from all of this mess and get on with OUR life, rather than the life our families think/expect we have.
It must be nice to be running, Beth. That's so cool about running the weight loss group! I relate to the "can't talk the talk if you don't walk the walk" feelings you're having. I make sure I exercise regularly and I never give anyone (in orientation, or private clients) exercises I'm not willing to do myself. I'm feeling a bit touchy about being "heavy" right now, but the women in my club like it because it makes me real. No blonde California babe here!
I know I'm forgetting to comment on something. Whatever it was, whoever it was for, I'm sorry!
Mousie, it's always great to hear from you. I guess we're all "L's" because we're just "Lucky". LOL!
Wow! You have had a lot of stuff going wrong at the last minute. Cleaning house can be a real stress reliever. I don't know if it's just the physical labor or not having to look at the mess anymore.
I know that when Saturday comes, you will have a great wedding day. We'll all be thinking of you.
I really am having a difficult month with PMS, but I will get past it. And it will get better. I weigh four pounds less than I did when I weighed myself last, about three weeks ago. If I can keep the PMS munchies under control, I may end up this month on the down side. I'll let you know.
I'm not doing well with sticking OP. I'm in "I don't care mode". I'm noticing a pattern. When I have an especially bad bout with PMS, I get into that mode. When I'm having an especially difficult month, everything seems like too much of an effort to do because I feel so awful. The problem comes when I get to feeling like I'm permanently stuck in that mode and continue to act that way after TOM gets rid of that PMS stuff.
The good news is that now that I can see what's going on, I can make a plan to deal with it. One thing I know helps is to drink an extra quart of water. It helps keep the water weight gain down. Sounds weird, but it does help.
Extra exercise also helps. What works best for me at that time is walking, but the weather is really bad right now. I don't want to get drenched. So, I'll just wait and see if it clears up, then go for a walk later.
I've gotten past a lot of the blues I've been feeling for the past couple of weeks. I sat myself down and set up a routine that includes specific times to study my new books. I have time since we're pretty much unpacked and settled in. We have a little left to do, but an hour or so every weekend for a couple of weeks should take care of that.
Anyway, now I feel less scattered and disorganized. I have some ideas for my currently defunct web site. I have set aside specific times to update and maintain it, once I get the latest version up on the Web. It seems really dumb for a would-be Web publisher not to have and maintain her own site!
I shouldn't beat myself up, though. The TIE cinema site has taken up a lot of my time lately. I've finished the page I was editing, but they're working on the new logo and design stuff, so it's not been uploaded yet.
Keeping up with my new schedule will be a real boost in my efforts to stay OP. For example, I won't be eating as much out of boredom. I'll be too busy.
I also plan to add a section to my web site for weight loss support, including putting up my journals, exercise, etc. The purpose is to help me stay honest with myself. I think knowing that I will be posting it for anyone to see will help me to make more careful decisions. I need to make myself more accountable.
It's not that I worry that people will judge me badly if my posts show that I've gone off program that gives me the accountability. It's that I will be writing my journal twice, once when I make the decision and write what I ate, my exercise, etc. and once when I post it. I'm thinking that by I writing it that second time, I won't be able to just forget what I did. I'll have to face the music and really consider things more carefully. That's what I need for myself. I find it too easy to ignore the bad times. Or I make up a plan, and "forget" to follow it. But, I'm motivated to make changes and I know that I can do what I need to do.
So, we'll see how things go. I'm not ready to give in to this PMS mood and give up. I will get there, and so will we all.
Lin, sounds like you're really finding your way back. When you get the site up, I'd love to see it. Great idea. I've been toying with the idea of doing something similar. The problem for me is time. I'm supposed to be updating another site for a customer, and I'm just not getting to it.
Lenore, I'll have to try your remedy for preventing colds!
Mousie, best wishes for the wedding -- and for married life with your sweetie. I can't wait to hear all the details of the big event.
I'm still plugging along, still OP, still barely losing. I was sick last week so I went a week without exercising -- and boy, was it tough when I tried to do it again! Like starting at ground zero. Amazing how quickly you can lose the ground you gain.
This weekend we start Lent. I'll no longer be eating any animal products, but I'm going to make an exception for tuna. Canned tuna. I loathe the stuff, but it's protein that's good for you and easily works on the program. And loathing the stuff is part of the Lenten picture. :-) I'll be eating tofu, veggies, beans, rice, fruit ... Although I'm not doing this to lose weight, I'll be interested to see how this affects my weight loss. I'll also be pretty much cutting out sugar except for breakfast cookies, but that's not a big change from now.
If I don't write as often during the next couple months, it'll be because we take time out during Lent to reflect and meditate. But I'll still check in as often as I can -- I need this place!
Lauren, good job with staying OP, especially since you've been sick. That's hard to do. What you may find is that even though you lose what you've gained regarding exercise, it comes back faster than when you originally built up the routine.
Spring for white albacore tuna. I hated canned tuna until I discovered that albacore, despite it's greater expense, is actually edible.
How do you fix tofu? I've been flirting with eating it sometimes, but I fear that I'll never get my family to eat it. Or that I'll hate it and never want to eat it again. I've tried it and I liked it OK in a restaurant soup I had once. But so far I've not found a recipe that I like.
Good luck with your yearly Lenten diet. I admire you your ability to stick with that kind of Lenten restrictions. I admit that I would find it difficult.
Also, thanks for the encouragement regarding my web site. I know what you mean about time. I felt really bad about not updating my old site, but I realized that my grades would have suffered if I had taken the time to do it. But now I have the time, and a lot of new ideas. We'll see how it goes. I'm giving myself an hour or two each day specifically to work on the site. I don't know how many hours it will take to get it up, but I'll keep you posted.
I downloaded Netscape 6.1 and it shows this site in a really different manner. The page I'm replying to is in a small window with a scroll bar. Below it is the text of the previous posts, without the formatting, in the regular window. It's strange, but kind of cool, too.
TOM finally got here and it's Motrin time. I'm relieved and planning how to manage the next month so that I have a shot at having a mild attack (or none, which happens once a year or so) of PMS and I don't totally ignore what I want to do. I think I have to spend the points on calcium and/or take supplements. I have a hard time remembering to take the supplements, but I have to come up with a way to remind myself. It did help when I did that.
I have the kind of motivation I had when I lost my last bunch of weight. I know I can do it again. It's just going to take a while, since I do not lose quickly, as you all know.
I hope things are well with you all--Beth, Mousie, Lenore, and Lori. Lori, if you're lurking, we hope you'll post again and let us know what's happening.
Lin, I remember you talking about how calcium helped you, so I tried it and after a couple months it helped me, too. Then I fell off the wagon. Let's remind each other to take that calcium! For me, it's especially tough because I can't take it with my multi-vitamins or I won't absorb the iron I need. But I can still work it in.
I finally lost my TOM weight plus another half pound. I'll take it -- 4.5 pounds down from my plateau weight, and in virgin fat territory.
Today I also worked out with real weights. That was an eye opener!
Forgot to answer your question about preparing tofu, Lin. I'm probably the wrong person to ask for good recipes, since I don't think I'm much of a cook. But here are some of the ways I prepare tofu:
--Crumbled and browned (you can buy it this way) and thrown into marinara sauce instead of meat, then poured over spaghetti. People who eat this usually think they're eating ground beef and don't notice the difference.
--Cubed, sauteed lightly in sesame oil with hot peppers and garlic, then add zucchini or other veggies; put the whole thing over rice
--Cubed and cooked with Tofu Helper (comes in various flavors; I like the curry and pasta one)
--Soft silken tofu mixed with vanilla and sugar or some other sweetener; tossed with frozen fruit; I let this thaw a bit so that the fruit melts and flavors the tofu; it's kind of like yogurt
--In prepacked foods like Boca burgers and different burritos
--With the moisture pressed out, cut into pieces and cooked in a Thai curry sauce with veggies; put over rice.
When you cook the tofu for a while with othe seasonings and sauces, it'll take on the flavor of those sauces. This seems to be especially true if you squeeze the moisture out of the tofu first; it absorbs the flavors better.
Lauren, way to go! I'm glad to see you back in virgin fat territory. It won't be long before you're so deep into virgin fat that TOM won't kick you back above that number.
Maybe you need to take your multivitamin in the morning and your calcium in the evening or vice versa. I think that I need to start taking a multivitamin, too. I've always been one who believes I ought to be able to get all of my nutrients directly from the food that I eat, but I'm thinking that as I work on losing weight I need to rethink that idea.
Thanks for the tofu ideas and the tip about pressing out the moisture to help it absorb the flavors of the sauce. I need to reduce my food costs and a few more vegetarian meals can help with that. Adding some extra red meat to boost my iron has helped me to feel better, but it's more expensive to eat that way in my family of "red meat loving" men. I cook a recipe that ought to serve 6-8 and there's nothing left over after one meal!
I've decided that since I'm recommiting to this program by purchasing the new materials, I'm going to set my next goal at that 10% level that WW talks about. And I'm going to reward myself when I get there with Ghirardelli. No, not the chocolate. The mug! They have a gorgeous blue coffee mug in their store in Monterey. If we can't get to Monterey, I'm going to see if it's available online. So, that's what I'm working toward right now.
Hope everyone has a great day and you'll all post when you can.
It's the weekend. My computer is acting very strange. It's jumping all over the page while I'm typing. Weird!
Anyway, I hope you all are having a great weekend. I am OP today. YEA! I sat down and made a menu plan for the week. I wish I could have this point range forever. It's enough to get in all of my nutrients and still have a few points left over for baking stuff a couple of times each week. Tonight I'm making a really good low-fat, low point brownie recipe.
Hi, tortoise beings. Lin, how did the brownies turn out? Congrats on staying OP!
I actually had three over-point days in a row. Not entirely sure why; I think part of it was that our Lent arrived Monday and we were cleaning out the house ahead of time, as it were. In any case, my weight will be up this week. It's amazing to me how little I need to overeat in order to gain weight.
Did aerobics today. I'm working out a bit less than I'd like, but at least I'm working out. Baby steps ...
Lauren, the brownies turned out great. It's an old favorite recipe that I was afraid I'd have to stop making because I couldn't find Dutch process cocoa or instant espresso powder here in Salinas. I substituted regular instant coffee for the espresso powder. But you can't substitute regular cocoa for Dutch process cocoa. I found that Hershey's is now making Dutch process cocoa. Yea! It's the basis of a lot of low-fat chocolate recipes.
Congrats on keeping up with the baby steps and not letting a few over point days get you down. Good job on working out. I know that this whole process is especially hard for you because your body doesn't let you get away with minor slips. Hang in there. You're doing great even if it's just because you're not giving up! And your persistence is paying off. Look at where you are now compared to where you might have been if you had given up during that long plateau and congratulate yourself.
I'm looking forward to hearing about Mousie's wedding. I'm so glad for her after all she went through that they finally were able to get married.
I've been OP this week. I weighed myself and I'm down to 236, 5 pounds lower than a month ago. Woo Hoo!
I did something different with my food plan. I've always had a salad and at least one other veggie with dinner. But I decided to eat some kind of soup and a salad with both lunch and dinner. I also often add one more fruit or veggie with dinner. Those changes have made a huge difference in how this program is working for me.
I get full so that I don't eat as large a portion of the main dish or the potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, etc. So, I've been getting all of my fruits, vegetables, and milks in and banking a few points a day. I've planned a very small treat every day. And I've managed to bank enough points to make one of those low-fat desserts three times in a week and a half, which I eat in place of the previously planned treat.
It sounds like I'm creating a plan to indulge my sweet tooth when I put it that way. But what really happened is that after I planned my main meals and snacks, I ended up with a bunch of banked points so I decided to use them to indulge my love of baking. It works for me because I plan and eat 1 small portion and my family eats the rest long before I'm tempted to eat more.
It's the process of creating the dessert that matters to me. I eat one portion to see how it turned out and what I want to do differently next time. Same thing for my regular recipes. I love the process of creation in the kitchen and if I can't do that, and stay OP, then I won't stay OP. I guess there are some things more important to me than losing weight. My preference is to use my kitchen creativity to make the program work for me by redoing recipes and creating my own to make them the lowest points I can without giving up the qualities that make it good food.
One other thing that is different from before I got serious again and planned my meals. I had been having a problem with heartburn at 8 pm every night. Weird for me because nothing ever bothered my digestive system until recently. Well, I'd been indulging in some meals with the full fat content and eating in my childhood pattern of three meals and no snack. I was afraid it was the spices, bell peppers, onions, etc. that was causing this. But since I've started dividing up my food into 5 smaller and lower fat meals again, the heartburn has gone away completely. And I still eat my spicy food! Whew! I really don't want to give up jalapenos, chipotles, and Tabasco sauce. I'm a real Southwestern girl!
Have a great day, everyone. Hope to hear from you lurkers again, soon.
Beth and I are the only holdouts!)
