This is a great thread for those who want support, helpful hints, friendship and a great bunch of people to communicate with. This thread has existed for a long time and I keep re-starting it whenever the old one gets too long. Feel free to stop in and chat, we are not a "closed" group and welcome newcomers. Some of us have been together for well over a year, some only a few days, but we care about each other. We offer tips, we share, we pick each other up of the floor when we've had rough times and we applaud when someone does well.
So, please do stop on by and share a bit, support is what it's all about! We can really do this together!
Erica, Thank you for sharing and being honest about the peanut butter and chocolate. Sounds awesome to me, though. WW used to put out half gallons of ice cream and now they don't have them anymore (or they are not carrying it in my area stores at least) and they had a flavor called "Moose Tracks" that was a creamy vanilla ice cream with chocolate and peanut butter in in. It was "to die for" and I couldn't believe it was a WW food. HOWEVER, I should be thankful they stopped carrying it at my local grocery as it was a huge trigger food and that 1/2 cup serving was turning into a full cup (and probably a heaping cup). It was something like 3 or 4 points for a half cup and I found myself eating a full cup (again probably a heaping cup) and calling it four points. Who was I kidding?
But, we all have our things, chocolate and peanut butter are a tremendous issue for me...I used to have peanut butter and chocolate chip sandwiches on white bread... bad bad girl!!!! I wonder how many points those were?
At any rate, we can be perfect angels at one time and then at other times something just goes off in our heads and we are determined to sabotage each and every good thing we have done.
Chocolate is a very bad thing for me, it sings a song to me - beckoning to me and calling my name. Maybe if I am ever to get to my 10%, I need to give up chocolate for a few weeks? Maybe I would succeed if I did that? Maybe, Erica, you would succeed if you did that too? I'm not telling you to do this, but I am thinking out loud about my own issues. I should have done so much more this past week to drop a pound or two. Here I am and it's Monday AGAIN and you know what? I could end up with a gain again this week, I really could. Weigh in is tomorrow and I'm nervous, yet again.
I have to examine this. I pay $12.00 a week, I go there and I listen. I say that I am going to do it this week, I'll try really hard and then I am faced with my day to day life and things happen. There was a big pot luck lunch, and then there was what? Family dinners, eating out, temptations, busy times, stress and where am I at the end of the week? Sitting here on Monday afternoon drinking TONS of water and praying for a .2 loss.
I have to do better than this. I really do.
Laura, thanks for the Zucchini stew recipe. I might put all those ingredients on my shopping list and give it a try! I just e-mailed it to myself. Do you all do that? I copy, cut and paste it to an e-mail and then send it to myself and then I can print it. It sounds like something I would like to have over top of pasta or rice as almost a sauce kind of thing. Have you tried doing that with it? You mentioned having bread and butter with it as it is very "spare" on points, but I'd have it with pasta, I think, whole wheat pasta maybe? Or, maybe with kidney beans?
Laura and Erica, my DH is gone three or four days a week and I have gotten very used to being on my own when it comes to eating. I find that I am in better control when he is gone than when he is here with me, but it sounds like you guys are the opposite, maybe feeling sorry for yourselves that you are on your own? Interesting. My DH is a very bad eating influence on me as he eats whatever he pleases, whenever he pleases, and he always wants to eat out at places where it is the hardest to find healthy choices.
Ginny, I can sympathize. Church and quilting related functions really do me in as far as points. Firstly, at pot luck things, I never know how many points things are. Then there is the inevitable situation of people staring at you and asking "Did you try the _____, it's so good. It was my aunt Martha's favorite recipe. I brought it so you could try it, as I know how much you are like Aunt Martha (or substitute the name/situation of your choice and wasn't Aunt Martha a diabetic and 300 pounds????? Yikes, and they were thinking I reminded them of her???? ). It's really hard to have these dinners with people and all that home cooking.
By the way, I did well today at my quilt meeting. There was an absolute TON of food that was left over from our quilt show this weekend, the absolute BEST food, all homemade and gorgeous. I did not touch a single bit of it, I ate my 2 point Quaker thingies and just had my coffee. At least for one day I was a good girl.
Paige, I LOVE your new picture! You look great.
The chicken sounds great too, we're having chicken too tonight. I've been right on track with my food, as I "journal" this morning. I haven't had an unplanned bit in my mouth for a change. Maybe that is the key to it all? If I journal and then tell you all what I have planned, I kind of need to stick to the plan and be accountable so as not to make a liar out of myself? Ha Ha!!!!
Linda
Hi ladies,
Paige I love your picture, you look great.
Linda, Thanks for starting this new thread. I think that may be the key to journal every day and then you do feel accountable for what you eat. Watching what you and Erica wrote helped to inspire me today to stay on track.
Laura, thanks for the recipe, I want to try it.
Erica, that chocolate and peanut butter sounds great. I am afraid to try it as I am not sure I have good control with dark chocolate.
Hi Haylo, future pixie, Kim, Ginny and L.J.
Have a great night.
Well so far so good today. I excercised have stayed on plan and I hope to keep it that way. Maybe I should say I am going to keep it that way.
Derry: I know what you mean about paying for the meeting all week only to sabatoge yourself during the weekends and get back on track during the week. I too was thinking of way to prevent myself from doing that. It seems like I go through this yo-yo effect where I do really good and then b/c I am doing good I think I can eat whatever I want and still have a loss, unfortuanatly it doesn't work that way. I keept thinking about my friend who is doing a research study where she has to take an investigational medication, of course she has shown a loss so it seems wonderful, however I know deep down that I don't want to rely on that. So I have to do it the safe healthy way. I thought about talking to a nutritionist at my gym just to see what they say but money is of course an issue. Anyways, after contemplating all these things earlier today I thought to myself. I have the solution with WW I just need to stick to it. I need to do better with this myself too. I actually had an eye opener when our leader talked about all the fat that surrounds our hearts when we have excess weight. That was a scary thought. I am going to use that as motivation, after all the reason why I started all this was to be healthy. Everything I know about weight loss always points to the same thing healthy diet and excercise, such a simple concept that I just can't seem to follow.
paige: great picture
Newlifestyle: thanks for the hello, I hope things are well.
Hi everyone!! Yes Paige, you look awesome. Your stats are awesome as well.
Fantastic!
Well today was another one of 'those days' They seem to be joined more closely together, then far apart, even for me, and I am surrounded by it all day. We talk the talk everyday!! We're always talking program, whether it's with members or with each other.
You know what they say at the meetings...Life gets in the way of things sometimes.
So once again, tomorrow is another day, and so it goes.
We talked about why we do what we do to ourselves (sabotaging)at work today. We know while we're doing it, it's wrong, but we do it anyway. And boy are we sorry after. How true is that. Can't figure out why we can't stop ourselves. Guess cause it tastes soooo good at the time, and what ever it is, it's comforting at the moment.
We all know what to do, we just need to do it. Sounds simple, doesn't it!
I am fortunate because everyday at lunch it's like a mini meeting. Linda we all are lifetime members, have to be, some at goal,some working to get back there. We all go attend meetings. One of my coworkers and myself go on Saturday morning. We have a GREAT leader. She is awesome, and when we sign in we are treated THE LIKE members we are, not Exec Office Staff. We do not make it obvious, that's not allowed. We are members first!!
Tomorrow is my big day for Jury Duty Selection. I don't know how I will plan my day, but I am bringing a Kashi bar - the 3 pt one. I don't know how I'll do breakfast, as I will be out the door at 6:30am. Don't know about lunch for that matter either...Yikes I'll do the best I can. I'll let you all know.
Just know my intentions are good
I am hoping to string the next 5 days together before Saturday, at this point I'll be happy with a stay the same.
I don't have all the names down pat yet...but I hope all of you have a great on program day Tuesday... Remember, we bite it, we write it, we snack it, we track it
Linda - I'm getting a complex about posting and starting a new thread. Somehow I always get in at the tail end before it starts over. So I just have to put in a couple lines here tonight to chime in on the new one ;0)
Not a bad day all in all - I'm feeling munchy right now but this too shall pass. It's almost time for bed so I'll be able to put that boredom eating to bed, literally. Have a great night. I'll try to be back tomorrow.
I have been so off plan it's not funny. My goal for tomorrow is to get myself back on track. I will do it. I got a letter today from my WW leader saying she wants me to come back. She said in the letter "There is no excuse". You know what there isn't. I will do my best this week and weigh in next week. I have a couple coupons and a missed meeting coupon so I will only have to pay for the one week.
Good luck ladies and I'll post tomorrow to let you know how I did.
Well I think that journaling here, might really be working. I do feel accountable to you all, not only with what I eat, but with my behaviors. It's like you guys are the only ones who understand the whole "chocolate peanut butter thing". It's not just about the chocolate and the peanut butter. For me, it's like the ultimate "i'm gonna break the rules" thing. It's "the old me" trying to say whose boss in this thing. But I'm slowly trying to reinvent that old boss for good. So.... along with the chocolate, I'm also giving up beer for awhile.
Kim-It's just so easy to get off track, you're definitely not alone. I'm glad that your leader reached out to you like that. And I'm glad that you are able to jump right back in. For me, I think it's the "getting back on track" vs. "staying on track" that is most important with all of this.
Laura-well I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who gets that kind of bored/loneliness at night. It's weird because, I do enjoy some aspects of it, like control of the remote, I can read my book etc. but Linda is probably right, maybe I just have self-pity and eat.
L.J.- I think I would love to work in the WW office to be able to have that kind of chatter all day. And I agree with you that we are members first. That's part of the reason that I stopped being a leader about 5 yrs. ago because I got more out of it from being a member, not a leader. When I was in our WW office last week, I walked by the "lunch/break room" and I saw on the table two huge bottles of balsamic and olive oil, just waiting for a salad. I thought to myself, now THAT is nice to see in an office. At my meeting, that's all I ever hear about is how people struggle with donuts being brought in to their work everyday. I don't know why, but I just can't believe that people are still doing that!
Haylo-awesome job with jumping right back on track after all of your festivals. You just reminded me, that I have not really exercised in over two weeks! I don't what the heck my problem is. And duh, it's probably why I'm not losing anything, and why my eating has been not that great.
Ann-how much longer will you be on vacation? Or are you back now?
Linda-well here we are, our WI day. I still need to find childcare to be able to go tonight, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse to not go. Today I will be hungry a lot, as I usually eat pretty light to be able to let the weeks efforts shine through. I admire my leader though, she said when she lost her 50 pounds, she never got into that game, she always ate dinner before she weighed in, yikes! She is so funny though. Our meeting place is right across from a lake, and she said, "when I was working the program, I was so determined to get the weight off, I followed this program exactly, and if my leader told me to go jump in that lake, I would have!"
Paige- that is a great picture of you! Do you know that the other night, I had this dream that I walked into a shop and you and your DH were selling these huge elaborate wedding cakes. But they were all the fake ones that you described you make for your classes. You were selling them as decorative pieces for people's homes, and they were very expensive. So I decided to buy this little "cake box" that you made and it was 75$ and I was like oh man, so I charged it, and your DH couldn't get the charge card machine to work. It was a very strange dream that's for sure, lol!
Ok, well I better get little dd's going for the day!
You are welcome, Ann, for thanking me for starting the new thread. My rule of thumb seems to be when we get to about 11 pages. It just gets way too long and we need a "fresh outlook". I swear we are better at posting and keeping up with a new thread????
I do think that journaling is a key element and, as always, keep that up at home. What I really want to do on this thread, with you all is to pre-plan my eating each day. Seems that when I get it in writing, I am more accountable. If I figure out ahead all my meals and snacks, then it seems easy to stay on program for me. I was "perfect" yesterday, didn't stray at all and came right in at my 20 points to finish the day, using no flex points. To top it off, I wasn't starving all day either. I had a mid-morning and a mid-afternoon snack and I got all my oils, veggies and milks in. I think being able to check off all those boxes at the bottom of my tracker is really another key element to success.
Haylo, that visualization of a heart surrounded by fat is exactly what people like us need to keep in our minds, a very good point.
You are so right that ALL the things we read about eating healthy, exercise and drinking water should have sunk in by now for us all, yet we ALL have our slips. But, I think the important thing to remember is that old saying about when the horse throws you, have to get right back on it and not give up. We all need to do this. If I have a bad week, bad day, bad month, it doesn't mean I have lost the war, it means I lost a battle. If I get up the morning after a gain, or a loss of control and say, "Well that is it, I'm done", then I truly will be done. If I get up determined to find a way to be successful, I guess that is what will ultimately lead me to the goal I want to achieve. Yesterday was one of those days, for me that I felt defeated, but today I feel positive again. I'm glad I had you all on my defeated day!
Erica, are these cheesecakes a milk serving? 3 points isn't all that bad if you are satisfying a milk requirement and getting in a treat/dessert kind of thing at the same time!
Please don't think I am "telling" you to do anything, like giving up chocolate. But, if it leads you continually down the wrong path, maybe it's time for an experiment? I'm going to try that, or at least ration myself to one WW dessert each day in the evenings. But, maybe I should try something non-chocolate and see if I am still "satisfied". The word satisfied is so important when one is on a weight loss plan.
LJ, your work environment sounds really positive and I wish I could be part of something like that. Seems like everyplace I go, other than to this web site or at meetings, there is nothing to reinforce what I am trying to do, other than my daughter that is. By the way, she came home with an "interesting" story yesterday. It seems she had a substitute teacher yesterday and she knows him from our WW meeting. She was kind of freaked out by that and surely doesn't want him to point her out in front of her classmates, which I am sure he wouldn't do. But, it was so odd to know someone THAT way and then encounter them in such a different manner. Maybe it will teach her, once and for all, that teachers truly are very human, like the rest of us.
LJ, also, good luck with the jury duty. I was called about 3 or 4 years ago and it was fascinating. BUT, every single morning they brought us all a huge tray of doughnuts. I was on the county Grand Jury and we sat in this large conference room with no windows, there was nothing to do in there but sit there staring at those doughnuts and if anyone knows me, doughnuts are my HUGE weakness. It was both a good/bad experience for me. I learned a great deal, I actually enjoyed jury duty, but those doughnuts and I were not friends.... I had one every day I was there. Whoops! I'm STILL working on those pounds...
Laura, don't get a complex about a new thread starting, just keep on communicating. I don't know about everyone else, but read each and every one of your posts BEFORE starting the new thread and try to make my responses on the new thread to what was said before. I think we all go back and read the old thread before moving up to the new one? We do have to do a new thread now and then, though, as they get way too long and after about page 8, my automatic notification of new postings stops too! So, please just keep on posting and we will always be reading what you have to say!!!!
Kim, is WW offering what they call "free registration" right now in their ads? If that is so and you ever go back to a meeting and they try to charge you for a missed meeting (they never do with a Lifetime member like me and I forget that policy exists once in awhile) you can say to them. Well, it's free registration now, so I will just re-join as a new member instead of paying for my missed weeks! Try that, they really can't argue with that. I hate that policy of paying for missed meetings as there are some people who can barely afford to pay each week and maybe they would come even once a month, or something, if they didn't have to pay so much?
Erica, giving up beer AND chocolate at once? Wow, can you deal? : )
I wonder if you can find something as a substitute that will give you a feeling of relaxing or something like that. I sometimes want a glass of wine in the evening, a way of just "calling it a day" and relaxing. Is there perhaps an herbal tea (I know, no where near the same quality and substance, but.....) that you could use in the evenings, maybe one that is soothing/calming (a few have names like that) and you could make a new habit out of having that time where you sit down and have this one thing that calms you down? I think sometimes, for me, the wine is almost ritualistic in terms of just stopping what I was doing, sitting down and calming myself. If I put on soft music and sat with a magazine and had that herbal tea, perhaps that would do it for me and the tea is zero points, just make sure it's decaff!
By the way, speaking of self pity/eating/loneliness, I can visit that myself now and then. I so often whine to the family that I never had time to do what I want to do, but then the chance comes and I am suddenly alone and I then choose to NOT do what I keep saying I never have time for. What is up with that? I will pout and then do something bad, like eat REAL ice cream or whatever, like I'm mad at everyone and take it out on myself. If I really want to enjoy myself and take advantage of the alone time, I should then get out the sewing and quilting that I truly love (and it relaxes me) and put on an old movie (like Pride and Prejudice or Gone with the Wind, etc.) and just enjoy. Remember that, next time you are alone that you control what you do when you have this special time. Even a hot bubble bath (I get lazy and know I have to clean the tub in order to take a bath and hardly ever do, but think of burning a point or two when you clean it and then how relaxing it would be to put on soft music, light a candle and soak for awhile. Wow... I think I should that do that tonight!!!!
Erica, interesting dream about Paige's cake shop, maybe we all need a representation of cakes but not the real thing! Ha!
Now, I have gone on way too long but have not journalled, so forgive me for taking a bit more space and journaling breakfast and planning my day.
Points allowance, 20 points. Day three of this tracker, 26 flex points remain (thought I'd like to remind myself of that as well)
Breakfast:
Oatmeal made with Calorie Countdown milk
2 points for the oatmeal, one point for the milk = 3
1/2 banana= 1
Total used = 4
Now, for dinner this evening I have planned whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce. I will have 1 1/4 Cup pasta for 4 points (one cup is never enough, I have to plan for this) and 1/2 C of the sauce, it's one point for 1/2 cup. With it, will be a salad with olive oil (2 tsp) and vinegar. I will have parmesan on top of the pasta/sauce for one point. So, dinner will be 8 points, including the parmesan.
I will have 12 points to play with for lunch, snacks and dessert. I need to get in 3 more vegetable/fruit servings and 2 more milks.
Dessert will be a WW dessert, 2 points, so that will make 10 for lunch and snacks.
I shall have to contemplate what will be for lunch. I am thinking of another Boca Burger with the 1 point cheese I have. The cheese was a real find with one slice being a point and then it also being 30% of your daily calcium. I could make a "mock" grilled cheese sandwich as well. I spray the squirt margarine on WW bread and grilled my sandwich in a frying pan with one slice of the one point American cheese, I can have a grilled cheese sandwich for 2 points, it's great for a low point lunch with soup.
I shall journal what I end up having for lunch with you all, I still can't make up my mind, but it will be good. I will try to refrain from having an afternoon snack as it's weigh in day. I wonder if that is a bad thing to do? It's so hard to know what is the best choice on weigh in days.
Last edited by derrydaughter; 05-08-2007 at 08:40 AM.
Hey everyone - I was watching 30 Minutes with Rachael Ray this weekend and she made a wonderful salad - does anyone have the points builder for WW that they can run this thru? I know we can probably skinny it down too - all input is appreciated!
2 t strawberry jam
1 T balsamic vinegar
3 T extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 pt strawberries sliced
4-5 c chopped romaine or mixed greens
4 servings
place jam in medium bowl and whisk in vinegar and then extra-virgin olive oil. Season the dressing with salt and pepper. Add the strawberries and greens to bowl and toss to coat evenly with dressing
Good morning everyone!!! It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day!
Erica-I think I am going to follow your lead and start posting my food intake here, as well (if you all don't mind!) I've tried posting it on another thread, but just didn't really feel "it"...didn't feel accountable, I guess. I think you all will keep me on my toes! I have been losing every week since I've started back to meetings, but I've been pretty lax about counting points, and I know it's going to catch up with me...rather nip it in the bud. Your dream was funny! I used to have dreams constantly that I was going to open a bakery here in our town. Every dream it was the same building, same location, etc. And it did really well! However, in real life, I do not want to own my own bakery (or business for that matter!) I've worked in retail for so long, I just don't want to be working in that type of environment. I've actually been working on my 2nd cake for my final practical...this one is really cool! It's a topsy-turvy cake (dummy,) and I "painted" it with luster dust, so the fondant is shimmery and metallic. I'm also going to make blown sugar balls and use them for the topper. I'm really excited to see it all finished. Anyway...good luck on giving up chocolate and beer! Maybe I will join you on that, too, and give up my love...cake. I have two cakes (real ones!) due on Saturday, so maybe that will keep me from eating the scraps.
Laura-Thanks for sharing that recipe. I am definately going to have to make it this week. I am always looking for things to have for lunch, and that sounds perfect!
LJ-My stats aren't great, actually...I got tired of having to change my thing to reflect my current weight, so I put my starting weight and my goal weight. Actually, my starting weight is 10lbs higher than that because I got a new scale a few months ago and realized that my old one was 10lbs off. I've been weighing in at home around 210.5, so I'm down almost 25 since September. It would be nice to get another 25lbs off in the next 5 months... I'll take 50lbs gone in a year! Hope you are having "fun" at jury duty today! I've never been called (lol...I'm sure there will be something in my mailbox today, now that I've said that) and my dh isn't a US citizen, so he can't be called. I don't think I would mind doing it, but I would easily be able to get out of it because I'm a stay at home mom and I don't have readily available alternatives for childcare.
Haylo-The self sabatoge thing is so difficult. I don't know why our brains think, "I'm doing so good, so it's ok if I eat this." When in reality, we are doing good because we DON'T eat whatever. As far as the medication... I personally do not agree with it. People need to learn to change their habits the right way, and I do not believe that taking medication that changes our cravings or our hunger is how it should be done. Weight loss is a real journey and learning process. If you aren't learning the right way to live and control your emotions and stress, what is to say that these people won't gain the weight back? It's like people who have gastric bypass. They lose a huge amount of weight in the first year or two, but if they rely just on the surgery and don't try to understand how they got overweight, they probably will gain the weight back. We need to just not give up, keep on plugging away, and try to understand and learn from our mistakes.
I need to jump off for awhile...I'll hop back on later and post some more. Hope you are all having a great morning!
I just had a little NSV...I just put on a pair of shorts that I bought last February when we went on a cruise. They were tight then, and I haven't been able to wear them since (not even zip them up!) It's supposed to be 75+ today, so I decided to be brave and try them on...they fit!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, they fit as in they are even a little baggy!!!!!! I have *issues* with my legs, but I've decided that I'm going to be proud and wear those shorts today!!!!!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!
Supporting Each Other on Our Weight Loss Journey
Picking up where we left off......
). It's really hard to have these dinners with people and all that home cooking.
I'll do the best I can. I'll let you all know.
