[Meg]

Good morning! It's lovely to have temperatures above 0 today. We got about 6 inches of snow yesterday so I was out shoveling twice. That was my workout for the day but today I need to get back to the gym.

One of the cats has a cold and all night long he kept sneezing "snit, snit". Last time a cat had a cold, it went through the whole group (pack? herd?) and almost all of the five had colds at the same time. My vet gave me a vitamin supplement that seemed to help so I'll have to call today. More fun playing Kitty Hospital since I have two cats who get pills daily, another one with eye ointment, and now this.

Other than that, it looks to be a pretty ordinary week of work and gym. What's up with you? Staying warm? How did all the medical tests turn out?

[rockinrobin]

Good morning everyone. Medical tests? I'll have to skim over last weeks thread, which I usually can't keep up with past Monday morning. I hope everyone is well.

Oh what a weekend. One that would never have occured if I hadn't lost the weight. Went away with friends Friday afternoon, got back last night. When I was heavy, I begged off of most things as I found them unenjoyable.

Had SO much fun. Went to a comedy show on Friday night. One of the things that I used to dread about that, was I knew the comedians would most likely make fun of fat people. I used to sit there and cringe, just knowing it was coming. Wonder if it would be aimed my way. But even if it wasn't, my face would turn all red and I would be terribly uncomfortable knowing everyone was staring at me, most likely the heaviest person in the room. Well, wouldn't you know it, all was well, some of the comedians were really funny and then they laid into the heavy folks. Well, I knew it wasn't aimed at me, but I got all teary thinking about the people who were cringing, just like I used too. When will it become politically incorrect to pick on obese people? When, I wonder.

So we saw the comedy show Friday, Saturday night we saw an INCREDIBLE dance show. Talk about being in shape. One hour of non-stop incredible physical action. Oh my. These people had FANTASTIC bodies. At one point my DH tells me that my upper body looks just like theirs! How funny is that?

We later ran into a bunch of the dancers shortly after the show, got to talking to them. I of course mentioned what great shape they're in. Had to bring up the eating. You just can't believe how thin some of them were. They basically don't eat very much. They told us they were headed to go smoke some cigarettes, which is how they eat so little. I sounded like they're mom and slightly preached to them to cut that out. Hopefully they're not all like that.

Did lots of walking, LOTS, which was great. Also did lots of shopping. LOTS. Found some great stores. I spent waay too much money, which I'm feeling guilty about this morning. Shoes, a phenomenal jacket, a blouse - I am an absolute sucker for most white fitted blouses. This was a beauty. Also some great glass covered containers and a couple of beautiful serving trays.

Anyway, so we had lots of off plan meals, though I managed to stay ON plan for a few of them. Others - not so much. But I'm okay with it as that was indeed THE plan.

Have a great day and week.

[Mudpie]

I don't think I'll be getting to goal until the warmer weather. I find I just have to eat more to cope with being out in the snow and cold all day. Salad just doesn't fill me up, or do small amounts of denser food. I'm all the time now.

I'm also eating more in the evening because I'm just too exhausted and stressed to do anything else to stay awake.

This is going to be a hard week for me. I didn't even get on the scale this morning as I'm too demoralized right now to face the new, higher number. I'm also coming down with DH's massive head cold but I can't take any time off work to be sick. The joys of being self-employed.

There. I'm done whining for today. Packing lots of cold remedies and kleenex and a big, big thermos of tea. DH is calling me his "little sherpa" these days. I leave the house in the morning dressed in a big parka, boots, snowpants, and snowboarding gloves with equipment and bags hanging all over me.

Did you all know that dogs are wonderful for "used" tissue disposal? I've had a couple of the labs grab them out of my pocket and one usually jumps up and grabs the tissue right out of my hand after I've blown my nose. EEWWW!!!

I'll leave you with the warm and fuzzy image for the day.

Dagmar (whish I was )


Dagmar

[WardHog]

Good morning!

Meg, your poor kitties.

Sounds like you had a great trip, robin.

I hope you're feeling better soon, dagmar.

I haven't been eating on plan. I need to get myself back into the groove before I find myself up 30 pounds. If I can just get through one day I think the following days will be easier. Exercise is not a problem - it's the d*** food!

[freer]

Hello Maintainers,

As you may or may not know, I began lurking a few weeks back. I'm learning so much from you all and hopefully I'm setting myself up for success once I'm done with my weight loss phase. Thank you for being here.

I have a question and I thought you guys would be the best ones to ask. I have about 100 pounds to lose. If I lose it at the pace I'm losing it, it will probably take 12-18 months.

I say this because I'd like to know what happens to my extra skin? If I'm losing it this slowly, will it mainly take care of itself if I continue to work out regularly? Or am I in for a bad surprise and plastic surgery? I'm not assuming I'll have a perfect body, but I'm hoping I won't have to do any surgery because I really don't think I could do that. Has anyone been left with a lot of skin and then, over time, the extra skin takes care of itself?

Sorry to ask such icky questions, but I can't think of another place to go for answers!

[Meg]

Not icky questions at all! In fact, they're so important that we have a whole subforum dedicated to questions about what happens to our minds and bodies as we lose weight -- Body Image And Issues After Weight Loss.

We have a sticky thread there about weight loss and excess skin that you might want to check out. In a nutshell, everyone's skin is different and no one, not even a doctor, can tell you now what your skin will look like when you reach your goal. Yes, a lot of people here have experienced improvement over time so waiting for six months or a year after you reach goal is strongly recommended before anyone considers any excess skin removal.

One thing I can assure you about with 100% certainty is that no one here would trade their excess skin for going back to being fat! Keep going and try not to worry about skin problems yet. You may be one of the lucky ones in the end!

[BillBlueEyes]

Good morning all.

Like Meg, lots of good exercise shoveling eight inches of snow yesterday. Alas, maybe six more awaits me this morning. Hello more exercise.

[bargoo]

I had a PET scan on Friday , my oncologist should have results today so I will soon know if the cancer has continued to spread , slowed down or been stopped in it's tracks.
Sheila was also having tests the same day and is continuing to have more tests. I hope she is getting good news.

[paperclippy]

Good morning everyone!

Meg - I hope your cats get better soon! Our dog's toe is still messed up. It's basically like it grows a scab, and then every time it scabs over he does something that tears the scab off again. He's almost done with his antibiotics, and I think any infection there was is gone, but it just needs to heal already!

Robin - that is sad about the dancers. Good for you for going out and having fun though! I only went to a comedy club once, and it ended up being uncomfortable because the comedians made lots of racist jokes (which are always prefaced by, "I'm not a racist, but...").

Dagmar - LOL, my parents' old dog used to take used tissues out of the trash and shred them up. I am with you on the winter food issues. Luckily I have a big stock of cooking light stew and soup recipes though, I'm planning to make several this week. Last night we had baked potato soup for dinner (made with skim milk thickened with flour, with turkey bacon on top).

Hi to Bill and Freer!

I'm frustrated this week. I was under 1800 cals every day the past week, in my 1400-1600 zone most days, and yet the result is that I gained a pound. Hopefully it is because of TOM and will go away soon, but I'm pretty annoyed.

[paperclippy]

Bargoo, I hope your test shows encouraging results.

[alinnell]

Good morning everyone. Just checking in for now. Although it is a holiday and the phones are pretty quiet, I'm alone (basically) here in the office. My assistant has been moved to 4 day weeks so she has Monday's off and the other female employee (estimator--but helped with the phones and stuff) was laid off last Friday. Mondays will never be the same.

I thought I had had a pretty good weekend, but apparently not. Friday's lunch and dinner out, Saturday's lunch out and Sunday's lunch out (not to mention the candy at the movie) all added up and added pounds to my frame. Yuck. The worst part of it all was that the choices I made were the best I could do with what was available:

• Friday I had a tuna panini with a side salad instead of fries.
• Friday night I had a grilled chicken sandwich (ok, it was on white and they wouldn't substitute salad for fries, but I did start with a small salad--but I ate the fries).
• Saturday I had my club sandwich on ww bread and substituted a salad for the fries
• Sunday I had a small quesadilla.
• All in all, I think it was simply a carb overload. I must take my doctor's advice and stay away from all breads, regardless of whether they are ww or not.

(So what am I planning for dinner? "mcmuffins" on ww English muffins.)

Bargoo and Shiela~hopes and prayers for good news today

Jessica~if you wrap your dog's foot in a bandage, does he tear it off? That might help--at Petsmart they sell colored bandages that you wrap around and they affix themselves without tape and stuff.

Meg~I didn't know cats got colds. Hope it stops with just one this time!

Robin~isn't it sad how so many dancers smoke? I know it used to be how they managed to keep their weight down, but you'd think they'd need their lung capacity to do the dancing.

Dagmar~ewww. I'm glad my labs don't eat tissue!

[traveling michele]

Good morning Maintainers! Holiday for me here, but I also feel lousy. I want to get a lot accomplished today but so far, I haven't made it out of bed. Head and throat hurt and body aches-- no time to be sick....

Allison-- I also had 2 meals out this weekend which is rare for me these days. Even though I made the very best choices available on the menu, the scale obliged me with a gain this morning. The scale is always so quick to remind us if we are off plan a tiny bit but not so quick to show us when we are on plan.

Bargoo-- thinking very positive thoughts for your results.

I also had testing done on Friday. I don't know if I'll hear back today or tomorrow but I'm hoping today. I pray that nothing shows up and I can be done with testing.

freer-- I didn't lose 100 pounds but I have lost about 55 from my high weight. I am also in my early 40s-- I think your skin often "rebounds" better the younger you are. Anyway, I am noticing the skin is still tightening up some now even though I lost the majority of my weight about a year ago.

Dagmar-- hope you feel better! Our dogs have always loved used tissues too. Our great dane, Jozi, celebrated her 5th birthday yesterday. She was very happy to get two new toys which she refused to share with our other dog. She would play with one while keeping her paw on the other one. What a brat. I got a cute picture of her at the end of the night sleeping on the ottoman (where she sleeps at night) with her head hanging down to the ground-- she had a big day!

Robin-- what a great weekend! Would love to see what you bought and shop vicariously through you! I love to shop!! This weekend I bought a new pair of exercise shoes......

Meg-- hope your kitties feel better. They will definitely pass that cold around. Are they inside kitties? If so, where do you think they got the cold from? My kitties never catch a cold but they never leave the house either.

I worked my first official Weight Watchers meeting since being trained. It was yesterday morning and it was fun! I hope I can keep working it but it depends on their numbers as to whether or not I'll be needed. The time and day work perfectly for me. The other receptionist and the leader seemed very nice. I was nervous but did pretty well (I think).

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!
Are you cooking anything exciting this week? I've pulled two new recipes to try. I'll post them if they turn out good.

[AnneWonders]

Feeling rotten today--I got another one of the first year of day care colds from my son. Decided to take a sick day since I was up a lot of the night, and I'm pretty sure rest is needed for a functioning immune system.

My weight is still moving in the right direction. Cheers for cognitive therapy techniques!

Anne

[Sheila53]

Happy Monday, Maintainers!

Thanks for the mention, Bargoo, and all the kind thoughts from everyone else. Bargoo, hoping for a wonderful result from your scan!

Just a few moments before my eye doctor appointment so I thought I'd hop on and see what everyone's up to on this holiday (for some).

My weekend was interesting--spent three hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday night in the ER taking in IV steroids and hearing a lot of stories from the curtains next to me. Of the six people whose stories I remember, four of them were diabetics. Interesting, I thought. Many had been in before and most knew exactly what pain meds they wanted. Interesting again. So one of my goals is to avoid getting diabetes--after watching my Dad's struggles and hearing the stories of these people (who were young! well, younger than me), there's no way I'm going back to eating the stuff I used to eat, although I need more of that resolve around the holidays.

Healing thoughts for those feeling ill. I remember how much my dogs loved kleenex, especially used. Thankfully cats are a bit more discerning--at least mine is.

[Shannon in ATL]

Hi everybody...

Michele - thanks for the calming words last week when I was on the edge... All day long as I climbed back out I stopped and thought 'breathe' and tried to slow back down. I did unwind a little, but not until after a frenzied cleaning of all the bathrooms that included brandishing my extension pole for my sponge at DH & DSS and telling them repeatedly that our germy bathrooms were going to kill us. DSS is already learning at 4 years old to avoid me when I have 'crazy face'. And, hoping your tests come back okay.

Meg - sorry your kitties are sick! It is no fun having to give pills to cats!

Robin - that weekend does sound fun! My SIL used to be a dancer, and the way she maintained her weight then was thru diet pills and purging, along with the exercise. A lot of her fellow dancers also smoked. I've often wondered if other professional dancers did the same thing or if it was just her group.

Dagmar - Sorry you don't feel good honey. Winter is bad enough without being sick on top of it!

WardHog - food is my downfall right now, too. I'm finding the time to exercise, but I'm also finding the time to snack...

Freer - hi there! don't know the answer to your question, but wanted to give you kudos for looking at maintenance issues early!

Bargoo - hope your PET scan comes back clean.

Bill - shoveling snow is definitely great exercise!

Alinnell - I'm pretty much alone in my office most of the time too. Makes me a little stir crazy sometimes!

Anne - lots of colds going around... My DH got one from our stepson in daycare as well. Feel better!

Sheila - Hope your appointment goes well. It is interesting listening to people's stories in the ER. It often shows me things I don't want to see happen to me, as well.

I'm starting my final prep before surgery. I'm a little anxious over the money still, but I'm reminding myself that I am paying for it out of my bonus and not out of my regular household income. Since I'm treating myself early this year I have to do a really good job of staying on my financial plan the rest of the year so I don't feel guilty. (I'm big on feeling guilty - trying to work on that. )