good morning
well...i have been productive this morning. i have spent several hours the last few days reading threads and learning a little bit more about all of you...YOU...my new friends and my source for motivation and inspiration.

i was trying hard to keep everyone straight...who was whom...who lived where...etc...when i decided to collect some pictures and try to visualize each of you as i read what you've shared. then i decided maybe i could make index cards with your pics on them, and your bdays, where you are from, etc.. when it came to me...

a passport of friends....

so i copied the pics i could find of you all...and printed out your pictures...the 2x2 inch size pics that go in passports...and i pasted them all to my little booklet...my Passport of Friends.

27 new friends added today. i would add more if i had more pics but some of you don't have pics. it makes it more personal to me to see all of your beautiful smiling faces. wow! how fortunate i am!

how comforting it is to know that ladies all over the world, are trying like me to become fit...from australia, to england, to wyoming, and new england...to canada...ontario, PEI, the midwest, and sunny california, washintgon...florida...i could go on and on....

now...i can just open my passport of friends and be encouraged to keep on keeping on...because i know that all of you, out there, are working just as hard...and we must be accountable to each other.

thank you...all of YOU...my new friends...for sharing your stories, and your pictures...i can't tell you how uplifting it is to me...to continue to read and learn about your journies.

i am not sure how to open a new thread, but i will try to open one called Passort of Friendship...and i hope that everyone will go there and post a picture of yourself...and join me in making a passport of friends.

hugsssss
rainbowsmiles

Debbie:

Different types of foods take more/less time to be processed by your body....carbs get processed the most quickly...leftover carbs go to fat....fat takes longer to be broken down and metabolized....fiber is different based on whether it is soluble or insoluble...and so on. That's why there is such an emphasis on a low (not no) fat, high fiber diet with lots of fresh fruits and veggies and minimally processed cards (lots of whole grains). These are the types of foods that provide the most balanced nutrition and can be the most easily digested and processed by the body.

Hope that helps....keep going!!!

Hi Everyone. Thought I would just check in and let ya'll know I'm still around. I've been just lurking and reading for the last couple of weeks, but just haven't been posting. I'm not too busy like most of you, because I have an exceedingly boring, quiet life so I guess one reason I haven't been posting is I really don't have much to talk about. I can report, however, that since Saturday I have been walking, at least twice a day, out to the mailbox (which is about 100' from my kitchen door) & back. Many of you know what a great NSV this is for me since when I started I could barely walk more than a few feet. On Saturday, I did buy a good pair of walking shoes like many of you suggested and this has made a difference.

to all the newbies, seems we have new people arriving every day, which is great. This is a wonderful place for help and encouragement.

For all of you and family members suffering through all the winter illnesses

Hope everyone is having a great OP day.

Johnnie! {{HUGS}}

I have to say that I welled up reading about how you could not walk more than a few feet at the beginning of your journey and yet now you are really getting yourself moving! The shoes DO help! I know before I started my journey that I could barely walk into the mall without pain let alone shop for very long, so I know how great it is to get mobile...a little bit at a time. Keep at it!!

Hope everyone is well today. Just a few minutes to go and I am off work for the afternoon...woohoo!!

Carol, that would be so fun if you do come to Washington. We definitely have to meet and if the berries are in season, you'll definitely have to come out and pick some. Maybe we could have a barbeque or something, low in calories of course.

rainbowsmiles, OP = On Program, WL = weight loss If there are any others, just let me know.

Tina, I'm so glad your kids were ok. Now you need to settle down and take care of yourself. Wow, that must of been frightening especially when no one called you and no one would tell you what the heck was going on. I don't think that any of us are prepared for disasters no matter how much we think we are because we've never been thru one before.

heather dw, you take care of yourself and Brian. I know exactly what your going thru. It's either try and get well with meds, or pay bills. Bills always win here and we go without. Sorry you have to go thru this. Just know you're not alone.

Catherine, good luck and go enjoy yourself. I hope the teacher is great and there are some great people there to get to know.

Julee, thank you for explaining that to me. It helps, believe me. It can be so confusing. Now, one more question. How long after it gets broken down into all the places it's going, does it turn to fat and causes weight gain?

Johnnie, glad to see you posting!

I wanted to tell you all about an NSV that I had a couple days ago...it took me that long to get over it. My Mom had baked a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. My favorite. She told us about it but didn't bring it over because it was raining. Don't forget they live on the same property as us...but it was really coming down. So I was glad it was raining. Well the next day, we had to go get water, so we asked her if she needed any. She said yes, so we went and got her bottles. After we came back, we delivered hers and she handed me the cake. Mind you, they were two huge pieces, at leats 4x4 each. I looked at them, but didn't want to say anything to hurt her feelings. I took them home, and looked and looked at that delicious cake. I then got out my calorie book, and looked at the calories and the fat. No way was I touching that!!! I boxed them up and sent them with Jim to work. He said, "What am I going to do with two pieces?" I told him just to give them away or eat one and give the other away...just get it outta here!!! This was huge for me. I almost cried, I mean it, I really wanted to cry, because I wanted to taste that chocolate soooooooooo bad. So yes, that was a HUGE NSV for me.

Hope all of you are doing well today. to those who are sick, to those of you struggling and a big to those of you who are losing weight!!
Debbie

debbie....wtg!!!
wooopiieeeeeeeeee yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh wooohooooooooooooo
YOU DID IT!!!

WTG

having friends to chat up over tea... a couple hundred thousand
having a man to love you unconditionally....a million or 2 at least
having an outstanding network of online support friends who are losing weight and sharing their stories for motivation ....PRICELESS!

Debbie: That part I do not know. Any chance of you being able to talk to a nutritionist or a dietician?

WOW for that chocolate cake NSV...

My WW leader made a comment last week about how we have a tendency to talk about our food and weight loss issues too much...which of course then makes other people (not us of course...but those other folks) make comments like:
"oh just have a little...it won't hurt you"
"oh you're being so good...look at what i'm eating..i'm such a pig"
and other gems like that....

So I decided not to tell people that I had gone back to WW and see what happened. So on Saturday when I made dinner for friends and asked them to bring salad...I figured it was fine...they'd bring salad and maybe drinks. But they decided to be extra generous and bring dessert too...3 pies...2 from Bakers Square and a SF one for DH who is diabetic. Maybe I should have spoken up. In the end I decided I had enough points to have a piece of the Lemon Meringue...and yes I DID LOSE 1.8 THIS WEEK!!! but I was also able to stop at one and not also have the other pie. DH had a piece of his pie...which they so graciously left with us. And when he found out that there were more points in his one slice of SF pie than in my one slice of regular pie...it went into the garbage the next morning. I was proud of us both.

I think that people mean well...but non-eaters don't always get it, do they?

Rainbow-The passport you made sounds neat. I know I could never have done this alone. I spent a summer working not too far from where you live on the Westvaco site out by Ridgeville. Seems like most of the time up to my knees in water hoping like heck that the snakes would stay far away. The name of my weight loss journey book is “The Laying in Bed Diet.” Part one is almost ready for publication, but I started another book some time ago about an attack 17 years ago that was in retaliation for my testimony against the head of a white supremacist group. That was going to be published first, but I have decided to make some revisions. I’m going to go back and change some names and dates and market it as fiction to protect myself and my family members still back home.

Johnnie-When I first started, that’s as far as I walked, just across the street to the paperbox to read the headline, then back inside. From there I went a half a block down and back. Just take baby steps. That’s what I looked like too – a baby or Frankenstein’s monster. I had been in the wheelchair so long that my legs would not bend when I walked. Nothing bent.

Peggy-They are letting you have an afternoon off. That’s cool. Were you glad to see Santana go to the National League? Would have liked to have gotten him on the other side of Manhattan, but at least we won’t have to face him now until interleague.

Debbie-it is so hard to tell ourselves no when it is something we really want. That’s a huge step, and it will be easier to say no next time. When it comes to adding weight after eating there is something else to consider. If you have recently lost weight, then the fat cells are present if somewhat empty, and the existing blood vessels are near by ready to carry the sugar right to them to refill. If those fat cells have been starved long enough, then the blood vessels will have retreated a bit, and your body might have to exert some energy into making new blood vessels to reach the old fat cells. Now in a skinny person, their body would have to not only exert energy to build the blood vessels, but also build the fat cells. This process is why it is so easy to regain weight, and why after 3 years, it gets easier to keep it off. The fat cells stay, but the super highways needed to re-feed them have retreated. When I started regaining some weight after the wedding, I topped out at a certain level, and didn’t go above that point. The best I can figure is that is the weight I was 3 years prior, so I had kept that part off for the 3 years, and my body had a set point.
As to your shoes, there are some get inserts for the balls of your feet that women who wear high heels have to get. Being tall, I’ve never worn heels, but they are right next to the inserts for heel pain, so I’m familiar with them.

Julee-non-eaters do not get it. When there are left overs at a church function, they always try to send stuff home with us because we’re poor. Some things are fine, but donuts and such are not. Luckily, I pass at least one prostitute and one homeless person on the way home. The people at church can feel good that they are taking care of us, and we can get rid of the food easily without having to feel guilty about throwing it out.

Anne-I also put back on some weight after getting sick, love sick. I put on 40 pounds in first year we were married, and have maintained the second, so it is definitely time to get it off.

Kayley-Commercials are the reason that I don’t have cable. I change the channel or watch movies to avoid them. Remember what Hannibal Lector said, “We covet what we see, everyday.”

Carol-big temp fluctuations used to make me so sick. At least here, when it’s cold, it stays that way for a nice long time.

Tina-I’ll bet they could have found your phone number faster at the school if your kid had done something like barf on the principal’s desk. I hope you were able to get them calmed down. Cold ravioli is something that should only be eaten on campouts or in the middle of a weird binge.

HeatherDW-I hope your husband feels better soon. I am so glad that I am sick enough to get a free flu shot every year. When I get the flu, I get sick so quickly and so hard I end up in the hospital.

Cyn-I also have m&m issues. Now they taste like almost candle wax in my mouth. When I have to have chocolate, I now go for a real good piece, and just one will do it. Food can mute your taste buds. Especially high fat foods. It’s like getting used to eating less salt. You can reset you taste buds.

Annie-I hope you haven’t come down with bubonic plague or Ebola or something worse. One comes from rats and the other from bats, so I’m hoping that your clients don’t fall into either group. Your immune system may take some time to catch up to working in the public again. Mine had to when the boys first came to live with me. Pre-schoolers are walking toxic waste dumps, exuding goo from every orifice.

I went to the pool today. New pool, new place, new people, all that stuff. It was a smaller pool that in St. Pete, smaller class, but better teacher. Himself was ready to cough up a lung half way through. He went with me to carry my bag and make sure I didn’t slip and hurt myself again. He really wanted to make sure that I didn’t run off with one of the towel boys. That boy is clueless. It was about -30 outside with a stiff head wind, and it was a block and a half to the bus stops at both ends, and I didn’t wear my face mask, so my face now hurts, but the rest of me feels great, except I seem to be starved. I suspect that is because my metabolism kicking in. Exercise has always been key to me, and my body responds as long as I keep it up.

Catherine -- I am SO glad to hear you not only got into the pool (finally!), but also seemed to enjoy it (and the new instructor). That's awesome!

Debbie -- That's a terrific NSV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok so being new i feel totally idiotic having to ask ... what does nsv mean??
all these abbreviations...i need to learn
cheerio
rainbowsmiles

NSV = non scale victory! Like fitting into smaller clothes, or turning down food... etc!

thanks heather
i'm learning haha
rainbowsmiles

Heather-Yes, it was great in the pool, and I promptly logged my minutes on the exercise thread for you. I want to go everyday, but I will be good and only go twice a week as medically recommended. I can be a good girl when no one is watching. Maybe we should add things like OP and NSV to our intro page stuff. We seem to have our own language, and I’d hate to think people feel left out by not understanding right off.

Hi Peeps - there are great things going on here tonight.

Debbie - I can't believe you waited to tell us about your NSV - I am soooooooo happy for you.

Catherine - good for you - it's so hard for me to go somewhere new for the first time - especially to exercise. I'm so glad you are now well enough to get to the pool - you've been looking forward to it for some time now. How often do you plan to go? Is it a class or do you swim/exercise by yourself? (of course with himself too). BTW it's so nice to see you feeling better.

Hey Johnnie - glad to see you post. I love my boring little life - I am not one of those people who can live by crisis management - yes, I am a rutdweller and quite happy. Gonna put you in the same boat with Debbie - holding out on your big NSV with the walks. So what kind of shoes did you get?

Susan - how was your day? I love the passport idea. You are right - you will find a connection here and have concern when someone is not posting.

Julee - I so understand not telling anyone - my reason is that I can just see them roll their eyes - oh yeah - here she goes again - oh yeah - sure she's gonna lost weight this time. When I first saw my family after starting this journey I had lost about 30 lbs - only the thin ones commented.

Peggy - did you do anything special this afternoon? Glad to see you posting.

Annie - maybe a little chicken soup for you? Hope Joel is taking good care of you for us. Hugs to you.

Where's everybody else? Missing you.

I didn't do so well today getting my calories up - 1300 with 40 minutes of circuit training and 40 minutes cardio. And what I did eat was carb loaded. I went ahead and signed up for another session of both the 90 minute yoga and the cardio/weight conditioning. On Sunday we will iron out the water work details.

Hope all are moving, drinking your water and taking time for yourselves. Time to pamper a bit.

Hugs,
Carol