Debbie-I don't get to see frogs here, or snakes for that matter. We have birds, and furry things that hibernate like gophers and bears. We get ants in summer time. I don't know what they do in winter.

Battle-better stock up on fish now, because it will be lamb season soon enough.

I got in about 5000 words on my book today, and now have a head ache. I got my mid term back. I didn't like the grade. She said she liked my paper, but only gave me a B+. I feel like eating peanut butter. I want to stomp my foot and have a proper temper tantrum. My next paper is going to be so long and complicated that she'll get a headache just reading it.

Catherine: I am done whining about my MIL. She has not yet tried to have me deported and she was lovely at the wedding, the whole dress thing notwithstanding. I have to travel a few times a year for work and I do not sleep well on those trips. I am so used to the warm body and the comfort...it's really hard to do. I am gone this weekend and I am not looking forward to it at all. You can be a person of impeccable faith, but mean is mean and it's ok to call it what it is

The congestion and sniffles have attached again. I was sure I had a temperature earlier but yet again I was wrong. I felt warm..but the thermometer disagreed. I can't get sick this weekend...it's just not an option. Argh.

Battle..thanks for the reminder about fish. I made some fabulous salmon last weekend that I just finished and I should get some more. My MIL looks for the specials on corned beef now too. She only cooks it (for herself and her husband) once a year but they enjoy it.

WI tonight. Fully expecting bad things. I did not use all of my extra points but this week I certainly used more points than I have yet...and the extras were really extra...the drinks and cupcake on my birthday and the desserts on the other days. Tomorrow we begin again.

Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer. This makes me sad.

ok so DH came home in a good mood......ate dinner and we discussed the calorie intake issue.....he asked if I would keep track of his calories on TDP as well as mine........so I opened an account for his and posted them......it says he should be eating 2200+ cals a day..........today he has eaten 1700 so far.....after dinner snack still to come so I think I will make it a high protein one.

He was asking me some hard questions but, what we assume is the best answer may not be so he asked me to ask you gals or what he has lovingly dubbed you gals "the calorie gurus" LOL

ok so if the daily calorie allotment should be 2200 would it be better to have
Breakfast 300
Lunch 600
Dinner 900
snacks 400 (spread out 3times a day)

Or something like this

Breakfast 600
Lunch 900
Dinner 300
snacks 400

He seems to think we should eat more in the morning and lunch since that is when we are the most active and it does make sense, but like I said we send this question to the gurus! LOL

Dmpls-there was a posting about this some where the other day. It may have been on caloriecounters. Alot of people actually eat5or6 mini-meals. I think it is what ever works best for you. It would be nice to go to sleep with an empty stomach.(well maybe not empty but not full from a late dinner)
My daughter said she is having problems with NYC because they all eat dinner so late. She is use to eating around 7 but said there they dont eat till9 or 10.She said the restraunts are full after plays. I would feel awful if i ate that late at night. She always makes fun of us for eating early between5-6.
debi

I'm back again, hoping to find the motivation to stay.

I've had a *lot* of crazy changes this year; some of which has made it hard to concentrate on what I've needed to. The fact that I've moved so far away from my hometown for the first time (2000 miles!) doesn't even scratch the surface. I might start a thread about my misadventures.

Anyway, I just realized I was having bad reactions to certain artificial sweeteners (I posted a thread about it in this part of the forum). . . now that I've got it figured out I'm feeling a lot better so it seems like a good time to start some lifestyle changes.

Zelma – I just read your website update and it was great. Not great that you were feeling the way you were, but great to not feel alone with these identity issues.

Debitmitch – I agree with you that it is all about what works for you. I often don’t eat until 9 or 10 at night, but that is because I go to the gym after work instead of in the morning.

Bernice – It really doesn’t matter when your husband eats as long as it works for him. One thing he might try is to mix it up on different days. This can also be used to compensate for a lunch out instead of one he brought or another day when he needs extra calories for dinner. I personally eat more at night because I prefer having a more substantial dinner. If I eat heavily at lunch I am asleep at my desk by 3:00. But again, it is really what works for him because over the long run it all averages out.

Julee – I hope your weigh in goes ok. Birthdays definitely deserve a bit of slack though. Happy belated birthday!

Catherine – Can you challenge the grade if you don’t think it is correct? We could do that with several teachers and they would often back down on certain points when we explained why we did something a certain way.

Battle – I hadn’t thought about the fish specials. Thanks for the tip.

TheWalrus – I have to admit that your name makes me want to make Beatles jokes. Sitting at home and eating poorly is definitely a recipe for not feeling good.

Laura – A plateau is when you are doing everything right and the weight is still not coming off. Even so, you can look at this time as maintenance practice. That must be so stressful to have a condiditon that cannot be diagnosed.

Debbie – Don’t worry about feeling like a weakling – you will be strong in no time!

Anne – I have snow issues with my neighbors (in this case the tenants of the other apartments in my house) too. Mainly – I seem to be the only one in the house that shovels the sidewalk in front of our house.

Annie – Can I just say that you are looking AWESOME in your new pic?

Tina – Isn’t it an amazing feeling to realize that we can be satisfied with such a smaller amount of food?

Sharon – Thanks. You are right – I am a dancer and it doesn’t matter what size I am (well ok, it does matter since I will be able to do more when I am not hauling so much around).



I am somewhat bummed out tonight because I had to skip dance class. My knee is really bothering me and while I could have pushed through, I have a feeling that would be a bad idea. I will not be able to go back to the gym until Monday because I am going away for the weekend, but then again it is probably somewhat good so that I give my knee a chance to heal.

I had coffee with a guy on Saturday and we ended up really hitting it off. I am not sure at what level, but definitely as friends. In fact he feels like a bit of a kindred spirit including having weight issues of his own. He lives a bit north of me up in CT and so I am having dinner with him on my way up to visit my father this weekend. The whole weekend should be interesting eating wise, as I always seem to have issues when I go home.

If today’s weighing was any indication I should have a good weigh in tomorrow morning.

Goo goo g'joob!

Hi Peeps

I'm beat tonight but wanted to pop my head in. I am excited about the time change this weekend - if winter won't leave at least we will have an hour more daylight of it. I think my exhaustion is 1) too much winter and 2) I let myself get very hungry - leading to dinner out. Now I have a full belly, new clothes to try on and the feeling I will sleep good tonight. I made good choices at dinner and was well within my calorie range for the day - I have to quit having 1300 calorie days when I work out like I did yesterday - it kills me the next day - reminder to self: fuel the body.

Catherine - I can't sleep when he's gone either. I always do take some special time though - maybe to get my nails done or a new haircut or watching what I want on TV or eating cereal for dinner. It doesn't take much to make me feel like I've splurged on me.

Tonight at dinner we had a little chat about the recent comments about identity mentioned her by Nancy and Zelma - I was both surprised and pleased by DHs remarks and his insight. Battle - I think you mentioned not discussing it much but some being aware of it - that has been my plan and apparently is appearing as such to DH even - although in my own mind it is always there front and center.

Hugs to all,
Carol

Laura, welcome back! It's always good to come back to something that helps you get OP again, and this is the place to do it. Just start out slow and don't overwhelm yourself.

Debi, yep, I knew about the spring under the space bar. Only because one of our kitties decided to barf all over the keyboard. I know yuckie!!!

TheWalrus, yay for feeling better after a good meal!! It's amazing how we will still fall back into eating junk and feeling lousy and then realizing why we started eating better. Keep up the good work and I hope you can get back on your feet soon and get moving again.

Battleax, how did the walk go? Any word on the job front as far as moving?

oooooo Catherine! You are in a bit of a mood aren't you. take it easy and get rid of that headache. I would take a B+ for sure as I used to just get c's and d's in school

Julee, Hope you had a great WI. I had heard something about Patrick Swayze, but didn't catch it all. That's awful. Poor guy.

Bernice, I don't know about the rest of you, but I try to have about the same amount of calories for each meal and then my 3 snacks spread out thru the day. I don't eat after 9p.m. if I can help it but if I'm really hungry, I'll get a protein bar. I think it's great that he is getting so "into" it. I'm sure it's going to help you so much to have a buddy going thru this with you. I wish my hubby would try and lose. He did the first couple of times that I tried to lose, but this time, he's no help at all. He's still eating the candy, chips, junk. I'm pretty immune to it now though.

Ewing, welcome! Glad you got the artificial sweetner thing under control. That must of been something to figure that one out. Post often, we love to hear the adventures of the newbies.

Nancy, that's great that you and the new guy are hitting it off. Sometimes it's best to start out as friends. Ya never know what can happen after that! Hope ya have a great WI!

Carol, isn't a great feeling to make the right choices while eating out? It's such a sense of control and makes the whole day better. Keep it up!! O my gosh! We turn the clocks up this weekend???

I got on the treadmill again today and did 20 minutes again with 3 - 1 minute intervals of jogging. I plan to add 30 seconds every couple of days. I'll do some weights later tonight while I'm watching tv. I'm surprising myself! Staying OP really well too and getting my water in. I hope to get out there and mow the grass tomorrow if it's dried up enough. Planning new gardens and in a couple of weeks I'll be able to start my veggies inside so they will be strong for outside come spring.
nite,
Debbie

Nancy-I suppose I could technically appeal the grade, but it isn't a huge part of my grade, and she was right on the part she dinged me on.

She's also another former tribunal lawyer. She probably wouldn't have played nice about it. I know I wouldn't have. I got 10/10 on my first paper, so it isn't personal. If my final grade isn't what I think it should be, then I'll appeal. I guess there's a difference between what I want to get, and what I think I deserved, and what I probably did deserve. I will just knuckle down on the rest of my work.

Good evening all,

Well, I got the book I ordered the other day - The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I spent too much time today reading it and will likely start incorporating the strength training part next week. I'm not planning on following their specific diet plan, although I will work at upping my protein. I'll have to work with the weights I have at home for now (I can go up to 16lbs on the dumbbells, not sure how long that will do). Once I know I'm more into it I might break down and look into better equipment.

Debbie - It's always nice to have choices. The other courses were also engineering ones (Industrial, Manufacturing, and Mechanical). Even 10 seconds of jogging is a great start. I see in a later post that you are up to minute intervals - wonderful. I found that last Saturday doing the WATP. There was a 10-min mile in which you do jog forwards and backwards a little. I was surprised I managed it. Although I am going to wait until this Sat to try and repeat it. I do also hate you for the mowing the lawn... just a little!

Laura - I'm not sure it's a plateau, but maintaining any weight loss is a good thing. It's better than going up. Good luck on restarting your weight loss.

Debimitch - I used to regularly snap keys off the older keyboards to clean cat hair out from under them. On a longer space bar there are often two springs. Depending on the kind of keyboard, there may also be a wire that needs to snap into a holder.

TheWalrus - spending times with friends when you're recovering is a good thing. Just think, you're halfway there.

Catherine - I know that's what I'm not going to like about going back to school - grades. I'll be okay with the math/science type courses, but I think the language course will be the toughest. Sometimes it feels like the marks for some courses are so subjective to the person grading them. I remember taking a problem solving course at a college a few years ago. I was in it with someone I knew. Part of the mark was for an oral presentation. She and I got (what we thought) were mediocre grades on the presentation. Now, some of the presenters were horrid. Part of it was because a number of them did not have English as a first language. The woman I knew was in the same boat, but did a good job. She found out that one of the guys got a higher grade (and freaked). The presentation was poor, but the teacher seemed to be grading based on how well he thought the person could do. I understand the point of encouraging people, however, part of the job we were both doing at the time (and the other person was hoping to get) involves dealing with customers, leading team exercises, etc. Being unable to stand up and make that presentation is a big problem. I've been in other classes where if you don't get up and present, you get zero for that assignment. He only subtracted 10 or 15% for not presenting. Okay (rant over). Doesn't it feel better that you're not the only one having a tantrum!

Julee - I'll keep my fingers crossed for the WI (although it's likely already done). My worst day since I started back in December was my birthday in January. I'd slipped a little on New Years, although not too badly. My birthday on the 4th was a complete disaster. It took I think 10 days before I was back to the same weight I was on the 2nd.

Bernice - you're probably going to get different answers on the breakdown of calories. I think it depends on how well the person deals with hunger and access to food. I couldn't do the large lunch / small dinner as I would be in the house (lots of food) and I'd be hungry. Ask him when he feels hungriest and try and adjust more calories before that period. Also look at the times of those meals. When I commuted, my meal times were:

Breakfast: 6am
Lunch: 1pm
Dinner: 7pm
Bedtime: 10pm

Using the hours between meals/snacks is sometimes the best way to determine sizes of meals. For myself, I could work until 1pm without needing a morning snack. Yet I would often come home about 4pm and take something. My late dinner meant that I didn't need a late night snack. He shouldn't get really hungry at any point (although we all know there are times we will be hungry. I didn't add the calories above since I don't remember what they were. I would say it was a small breakfast, medium lunch, small snack in the afternoon, and a larger dinner.

Since I'm now eating just over 2000, I'll show you my day now that I'm home. I used my Feb stats from my calorie tracker (that's why the numbers are odd).

Breakfast: 10 am (235 cals)
Lunch: 2pm (575)
Afternoon Snack: 5pm (55) - it's 90 when I take it, just not all days
Dinner: 7pm (670)
Evening Snack: 10pm (500)

When I change my exercise next week I'll likely try eating breakfast earlier and putting in a morning snack. I find at the moment that I simply look at what's left for the day and put it in the evening snack instead of bulking up other times.

Ewing - welcome back. That's a pretty big move you did there. I did see the sweetener thread. It never did affect me that way, but I'm glad you found the source of your troubles.

Nancy - well, my snow issues are good ones! It turned out that it was the daughter herself that shoveled this morning. Her dad came over today and asked about parking his car in our driveway so he could use his snow shovel with less problems. He knows it's okay, but asks in case we we're going out (since that blocks our garage). The coffee date, now dinner date, sounds promising. Perhaps I can live vicariously through you until I get to the point where I put myself back out there. I did get interest the last time I was down under 300, but I was never comfortable enough with where I was to do anything about it. That's something else I'll have to work on. You inspire me in that area.

Carol - I think the best idea is to fuel the body after the workout, without thinking about it. I usually take lunch after my morning workouts, but in the afternoon I take a protein shake (although I may move a piece of my lunch fruit there as well starting next week). You definitely do not want 1300 calorie days with heavy workouts. That's what got me into trouble a couple of years ago. I do know that it's hard to think of food as fuel, but you really do need to.


Well, I think that's it for me tonight... time for sleep!

Julee- I hope that your sniffles go away!!! Take some extra vit C drink some Grape Juice I know that always helps me and its easier on the stomach than Orange. I hope your WI went well! I hadn’t heard about Patrick Swayze, that is sad!!

Debi- I scanned the Caloriecounters forum and got a lot of insightful info!! Thanks! Along with all that the “gurus” here say......DH & I feel we need to up at least our breakfast meal for him......I sent him with extra quick things for him to eat once he gets to work.....we eat oatmeal together around 5 or 5:30 on rare occasion do I get up early enough to cook him breakfast. Maybe I should start creating some quick frozen breakfast things with higher calorie content. (like home made frozen burritos etc...)

Ewing- I too get massive migraines some of which was attributed to artificial sweeteners but also other things played a part. My hormones being out of wack was one of them. Now that my hormones are more under control, I don’t have the issues with artificial sweeteners.

Nancy- I feel the same way you do about dinner.....we started eating our dinner prior to 7pm and then only allow a healthy snack in the evenings.....we use to eat anytime we all were home, some days it was at 9:30 or 10pm!!! And I’m talking a dinner of 1000 calories plus, with no regard to fat calories. So this change in eating times has helped let alone the more healthy eating. I think I have a better perspective after listening to all of you guys.....pretty much as long as we don’t over eat on Calories......we could eat them all at 7pm and we would still lose weight because our body will burn however many calories it needs to regardless of when we consume our calories. Sorry about your knee but you are right to let it rest. Wooohooo on the coffee date, hope dinner is just as nice!

Debbie-Yes I agree it is nice having someone to do this with and for....we are doing it for ourselves but helping each other is also incentive. He weighed yesterday just cuz he couldn’t wait till Sat since he put on jeans that were tight last week....and this week they fit he wanted to know what kind of weight change he had....he lost 4lbs! Tonight is his long nite of classes he works 8hours plus 5 hour class tonight....so I packed him a protein bar ontop of all his snacks, lunch & dinner....I told him if he felt like he should eat it during class or on his break because he wont be home till 10 or later and we usually have our evening snack around 9pm or so.....hopefully this helps him out today. I’m going to see about doing what you do on the treadmill after a week or so more. I did try to add an incline but decided after a few secs that wouldn’t work right now. I do start it at 2.0 and increase to 2.5 then on my last song I cool down at 2.0......told Dh I think I will increase it to 2.5 & 3.0 next week. I haven’t walked yesterday or the day before since I had my mini workouts at work with students I was drained when I came home....but today I plan on it!

Anne-Thank you so much for your info on your calorie intake! Since we have breakfast at 5 or 5:30 I keep that at 100-200 cal then he has a snack mid morning to complete what I would call his breakfast calories....just spread out......for another 100-200 then lunch anywhere from 300-600 depending on if it was leftover dinner. Dinner is usually 600-800 and then the rest is snacks between lunch/dinner and after dinner. So I guess I will just boost his breakfast calories at first and see how he feels.

Last night I sat down and wrote my son a letter, even though I will not be able to send it for another week or so. Waiting on his return address, I was thinking of him since yesterday was his first full day of boot camp. I pray he did well, he is VERY athletic and can take just about anything anyone dishes out to him in stride. So I know he will do ok, just the worry-wort-momma in me LOL

I was OP for calories and did a lot of extra movement(lifting kids and short quick walks) so when I came home I was worn out.....didn’t do any walking last night. I need to today.....tomorrow we have the day off so I will do some sort of workout as well tomorrow.

Well I must finish getting ready for work
Toodles peeps
Bernice

Funny you all should be talking about grades! Seems like that's all I do sometimes! Grades are subjective to some degree. Not just for the person you are grading, but as a teacher my mood and concentration level affect my grading sometimes. For some assignments, I have my students turn them in with only their student IDs and not names on the paper. Then I can grade anonymously. That's interesting sometimes.

I try to be specific in my assignments (e.g., do this and this AND that) and when I grade, part of what I look for is this and this AND that. But some papers are written more clearly, others less so. That also figures into the grading.

Grade appeals become difficult. As a teacher, I would rather have a student come and ask me to go over why he or she got a certain grade. Sometimes in the process I realize a mistake! But to appeal a grade in a way you need to see all the other papers and how they were graded... it's tough...

Good luck to all the students in the group!

good morning everyone,
Well looks like I'm heading to walmart this afternoon to get a new keyboard. I got the wire back in place but a spring is still missing and i really have to strike the bar hard to make it work.
I am kinda sore this morning. I increased weights last night and I can really tell it today. Its a good kind of sore though. I know I am making progress.
Looks like we are in for yet another snow storm starting at midnight tonight. They are saying this could be our biggest one of the season. up to 8".

Have a great day everyone.
I will do personal after i get a new keyboard. lol I never dreamed how much i use the space key.lol

thanks for all hte support. this site is awesome and so is each and everyone of you!!!
debi

Ewing – Welcome back! So you moved to be with your BF? I think you were talking about possibly doing that when you were here last.

Carol – That is really cool that you have such a supportive hubby. It is definitely important to eat enough – especially on days when we work out. The body needs fuel to rebuild after you use it!

Debbie – I don’t think I have mentioned how impressed I am that you are doing intervals with jogging. That is amazing!

Catherine – It is definitely important to know when to pick our battles.

Anne – 16 pound dumbbells should do you for awhile. You can always increases the number of reps in a set if you are finding that they are starting to feel light. You can also try slowing down the lift and making it really controlled – if you aren’t trying to get your heart rate up that is. I am glad I can inspire you about the dating. It feels really weird for the queen of wanting to live vicariously to have people wanting to hear what I am doing.

Bernice – It must be hard not being able to communicate with your son. Do they let them send email at all?

Heather – Oops - when I said appeal the grade I meant go to the teacher and ask him/her about it – not to take it directly to the school. I know that especially in my audit classes there were several instances of the book saying one thing but new laws saying another, etc. that made more than one answer correct depending.

Debi – I love feeling that kind of sore. It makes me feel like I really worked!

I am having a crazy hungry day. I woke up really early (5:30 – ugh! I am not a morning person) and was hungry so I had a protein muffin. I had my breakfast here at the office – a bowl of Kashi GoLean at about 9:00 and I am already hungry! This is crazy.

I am so ready for this day to be over already since it is my effective Friday. I am really looking forward to spending time with my dad this weekend.

I am happy to say that the scale dropped another two so I feel like I am moving in the right direction again. It will be really tough to keep up the momentum this weekend with not one but two meals at restaurants with buffets as the only option. I will just have to do the best I can and not go overboard. I am bringing a laptop with me so that I can continue to check in.